October verse

We feel very poetic today. Actually we feel poetic most of the time but today the mood is for autumnal musings at the seaside and Russian ‘Silver Age’ poets. Famous Russian poet Joseph Brodsky loved sea and spent a lot of time in a place called Koktebel in eastern Crimea — a place which other Russian artists and poets were drawn to due to its beauty and sense of freedom.  He wrote his poem ‘With the view of the sea’ in 1969, in Koktebel and we especially admire this bit, the very beginning of the poem:

October. In the morning breeze,
the sea lies cheek against the quay.
The seeds of the acacia trees,
like rain on roofing iron, play,
tap-dancing. Only now appearing,
rays of the sun that still sits low
are piercing more than they are searing;
this duplicating, down below,
the rowers sweep, while gazing up
upon the snowy mountaintops.

And this, the ending:

When there is so much in the distance
behind you, mainly – misery,
don’t loiter, waiting for assistance,
but catch the train bound for the sea.
It’s deeper. And it’s not so small.
This, in itself, won’t fix your mood.
But if one has to, after all,
sense all the pangs of orphanhood,
then pick a setting that can make
your insides stir instead of ache.

English translation is by Andrey Kneller, the whole text can be found here

Wherever you are, catch the train bound to the sea. We are sure it is beautiful in October!