By Joseph A. Brodsky

The English Poetic Rendition, by Anna A. Polibina-Polansky

The Land of Lakes
Of thrifty dentists, was the country, so.
Its daughters signed their garments, out of London.
Their claws bore their banner, and their soul
Was of the Tooth of Wisdom. So I pondered.
Their mouth of cavities, I blankly spied,
About the rotten, lost civilization.
The teacher of bleak eloquence applied
For having guts and veins. Of accusations,
The college was nearby the Basic Lake.
Shores all were salty, for the upper sake.
What I wrote, could have been omitted, yet.
I fell unbuckled at the cot and followed
A star there at the ceiling.  So it bet,
It have got by the pillow, to my hollow
Conch of the ear, swifter than I could
Have made a wish. Stars linger, for the good.
1972, The Ann Harbor, Michigan - tr. 2020, Moscow