"In three quarters of mankind, you must understand,
A poet has died young who is outlived by the man."
More Perihelion:
Bob Sward's Writer's Friendship Series
translated from the Russian by J. Kates
TO SAINTE-BEUVE
On a passage from an article in La Revue des Deux Mondes
Friend, you have spoken well: in us, such as we are,
You didn't pay attention, lining out your thought,
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There frequently exists a certain flower
That blossoms, fades and from the heart its leaves are shed.
"In three quarters of mankind, you must understand,
A poet has died young who is outlived by the man."
Well said, my friend - and a little too well said.
That your pen made poetry then and there, unsought.
In his own tongue you took Apollo's name in vain.
I betray you to your injured Muse: Read again,
And remember that in all of us frequently there keeps
A poet young and vibrant, who is not dead, but sleeps.
J. Kates is a poet and literary translator who lives in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.
His translations of the Romantic Russian poets will be forthcoming in an anthology of international Romantic poetry
edited by Michael Ferber. An Anthology of European Romantic Poetry in Translation, Longman (US) 2004.