LONELINESS by NIKOLAI (NIKOLAY) STEPANOVICH GUMILEV

I SLUMBERED, and the white waves washed me thus
Sailing my own boat on the sea;
And, pale as death, in breakers mountainous
My country was revealed to me.

It's full of horses wildly galloping
And golden caverns of delight;
But in it savage panthers wandering
Have eyes that flash with flames at night.

The patterned grasses marvellously gleam,
The rivers are as mirrors clear;
But in the forests hidden mandrakes teem
And plants of evil and of fear.

On blue-white marble there I set upright
A lofty beacon-flame to shine
That those who sped along the waters might
In the far distance see my sign.

I promised them the plumes of ostriches,
But no one answered to my call
To turn and keep his boat from voyages
Where the disastrous waters fall.

An oracle all did in honour keep,
And judgment passed in days gone by,
That his heart must for everlasting weep
Who in his wandering comes nigh.

In slumber shadows drawing near I see,
And countries of the spring and noon,
But sad clouds weigh upon me heavily
In moonbeams of an opal moon.

My loneliness upraises every hour
A fiery scourge, to let me know
That I am doomed to conquest by the power
Of oracles told long ago.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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