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

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

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The poem also links Christianity and Buddhism by referring to two of Shvarts's<br />

epigraphs to the book, one Buddhist and one Christian, in the final lines:<br />

О, сестры! Духи!<br />

С туманом я играю!<br />

Духи! Мне весело,<br />

Я умираю.<br />

Душа моя, ты стала чашей,<br />

В которую сбирает нищий<br />

Слепой, живущий при кладбище,<br />

Пятак и дождь, и фантики пустые,<br />

Обломки солнца золотые—<br />

Объедки херувимской пищи.<br />

Oh, sisters! Spirits!<br />

I am playing with fog!<br />

Spirits! I am happy,<br />

I am dying.<br />

My soul, you became a cup<br />

In which a blind beggar<br />

Living next to a graveyard collects<br />

A five copeck piece and rain, and empty candy wrappers,<br />

Golden pieces of the sun—<br />

Leftovers of cherubic food.<br />

The book's seventh epigraph, "У входа в пещеру/Играю с клубящимся туманом," is<br />

clearly echoed in the second line of this excerpt. As discussed previously, this epigraph<br />

is attributed to a Daoist thinker and poet "Безумный Линь" and suggests the poet's<br />

embarkation on her journey of discovery. Placed again at the end of the book, it signals a<br />

new beginning. Having struggled through doubt and temptation, Lavinia is now ready to<br />

achieve true enlightenment. She reaches this moment of sudden awareness through her<br />

death, again recalling Christ's physical death on the cross on Good Friday. The epigraph<br />

itself points to the Good Friday connection; Lavinia plays with fog "at the entrance to the<br />

cave," suggesting the cave in which Christ's body will be laid after his death. Again,<br />

Buddhism and Christianity converge.<br />

182

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