THE BOOK OF POEMS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ... - TopReferat

Do you want to look into your neighbor?
You'll die laughing!
Name just one for me.
Tell me quickly, it could be anyone,
And right this very minute into him you
I will turn, on my word of honor!
For an instant, not forever! So that you can find out,
So that you can spend a bit of time in his skin…
As soon as you've been there for just a minute—
You'll know what is truth, what is falsity.
Everything to the very bottom you'll understand there,
And when you understand, you'll not soon forget.
In the second poem of Сияния, "Идущий мимо," Gippius expressed this very desire to
see inside another's soul, to discover the secret histories hidden behind every passerby.
Once she has discovered their truths, she can then reward or punish them accordingly:
Как Бог, хотел бы знать я всё о каждом,
Чужое сердце видеть, как свое,
Водой бессмертья утолять их жажду—
И возвращать иных в небытие.
Like God, I would like to know everything about each person,
To see another's heart as my own,
To assuage their thirst with the water of immortality—
And return others to non-existence.
Gippius recognizes this desire as something beyond her reach. Only God has the right to
see into each soul, to grant immortality or death. In "Равнодушие" the devil thus tempts
her with a blasphemous gift, one that would result in the poet's fall. Unlike Eve,
however, Gippius is not swayed by this devil. She has already overcome him and is
unresponsive and indifferent to his offer:
От работы и в этот раз
На него я не поднял глаз,
Неответен—и равнодушен.
Уходи—оставайся со мной,
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