Equally with all others

1 

Equally with all others 
I want to serve you, 
Drying from jealousy 
My lips turned blue. 
Word does not slake 
A mouth dry from despair 
Without you I am breathless 
In empty air. 

2

I am no longer jealous 
But yet I want you, dear, 
I carry me like sacrifice 
To executioner, 
And no I will not call you 
Not love not glee; 
The wild and foreign blood 
Runs now through me. 

3 

Wait for one moment 
And this I will tell you: 
Not joy, but torment I find in you. 
And, like a sacrilege, 
Bitten in frenzy 
Your tender cherry mouth 
Still calls to me. 

4

Return to me at last, love, 
It's awful without you 
Never more strongly 
Have I felt you. 
And in the midnight drama, 
Asleep, awake, 
I call your name out loud 
Even as I shake.

By Osip Mandelshtam
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat 
https://sites.google.com/site/ibshambat