A poem by Osip Emilevich Mandelstam : Take From My Palms

Take From My Palms

Just for joy, take from my palms
A little sun, a little honey,
As Persephone’s bees commanded.

An unfastened boat caot be untied.
A shade shod in fur caot be heard.
In the dense forest of life fear caot be overcome.

Only kisses are left for us.
Furry, like small bees
That die when they leave the hive.

They rustle in transparent thickets of night,
Their home is the dense Taiga woods;
Their food – time, honeysuckle, mint.

So take and enjoy my passionate gift,
A dry, unsightly necklace
Of dead bees, who changed honey into sun.

Osip Emilevich Mandelstam