Russian Silver Age poetry translation series, 44/?
I have just been picking poems by browsing through the Wikisource list of eight-line Russian poems, and stopping at ones that I both like and see a way into translating. (I admit that this is a creative outlet I can do in downtime at work when I am bored.) However, people will doubtless point out to me that the this is the third one in a row to mention or feature storms, on sea or land, and my subconscious is trying to tell me something.
I am not sure what. I do like Konstantin Balmont a lot, and I liked the central image of this poem.
Sea Roses
Sea roses are the whitest roses.
When gales toss the sea, they bloom
When furious breakers in opposing
Torture the turquoise with their boom
And beat and fling it up in rumbling,
Upset it with the thunder’s roars,
And with dead laughter, for a flash they bring
The splendour of a full white rose.
Konstantin Balmont, 1908; translation by Tamara Vardomskaya, September 6, 2019