circles

I seek for rhythmic whisperings
Where noises bandy
For life I listen wistfully
In footless banter.

I cast wide nets and tentative
In lakes of sorrow.
I go toward final tenderness
By pathways sordid.

I look for dewdrops glistering
In falsehoods gardens.
I save truths globules glistening,
From dust-heaps garnered.

I fain would fathom fortitude
Through years of wormwood
And pierce the mortal fortalice,
Yet live, a worldling.

My cup, through ways impassable,
To bear, untainted;
By tenebrous bleak passages
To joy attaining.

-Zinaida Hippius