"Don't Imitate..."

Don’t imitate: the gift is special here,
And with its own greatness it is great;
Either Doratov or the new Shakespeare –
You are not liked: they hate returning, yet.
The law of a bard and Israel’s the same:
To make the idol is the crime and shame!
And when, Mickiewicz, oh, my bard, elated,
I saw you by the Byron’s feet – I thought:       
Rise, rise immediately, a priest humiliated!
Rise and remember: you’re yourself a god!


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, January, 2001