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

personal emotion so typical of the poems which surrounded and took its place in the first
and second editions: "Уединение," "Газетчик," "Как выскажу моим косноязычьем."
The lyric hero is a distant observer, rocking his head lightly to the almost singsong
rhythm of the poem. His calls for the aviator's demise lack any personal involvement.
More interesting than the removal of "Авиатору," however, is its apparent
reincarnation in the form of the poem "Акробат," one of the four poems added to the
1927 edition of Путем зерна. While the painfully emotional and even violent poems
which occupied the place of "Авиатору" in the second edition were discarded from the
more sedate, contemplative final edition, the detached, almost philosophical nature of the
excised "Авиатору" reemerges in "Акробат," another observation of a man hovering
between earth and sky:
От крыши до крыши протянут канат.
Легко и спокойно идет акробат.
В руках его—палка, он весь—как весы,
А зрители снизу задрали носы.
Толкаются, шепчут: «Сейчас упадет!»—
И каждый чего-то взволнованно ждет.
Направо—старушка глядит из окна,
Налево—гуляка с бокалом вина.
Но небо прозрачно, и прочен канат.
Легко и спокойно идет акробат.
А если, сорвавшись, фигляр упадет,
И охнув, закрестится лживый народ—
Поэт, проходи с безучастным лицом:
Ты сам не таким ли живешь ремеслом?
The tightrope is stretched from roof to roof.
The acrobat walks lightly and calmly.
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