"I've lost a delicate cameo"

by Osip Mandelstam

Osip Mandelstam

"I've lost a delicate cameo,
Somewhere on the Neva's shore.
I pity the charming Roman girl,"
You said to me, almost in tears.
But why, fair Georgian beauty,
Stir up the dust on a sacred tomb?
Another downy snowflake
Melted on her eyelid's fan.
You bowed your gentle neck.
Alas, no cameo, no Roman girl.
I pity the tawny Tinotine -- virgin
Rome on the Neva's shore.





Last updated January 14, 2019