| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | Force | | By N. Minsky (Pseudonym of Nikolai Vilenkin) (b. 1855) |
| | | SHE lies, opening her teats, strong, swollen, wide, | |
| And at her breasts, their equal gift bestowing, | |
| Mad Nero and meek Buddha clutch, unknowing, | |
| As clinging twins who suckle side by side. | |
| She holds two vessels, whence, forever flowing, | 5 |
| The streams of Life and Death serenely glide. | |
| She breathes—and wreaths of stars are lit, and bide,— | |
| She breathes anew: they fly like sere leaves blowing. | |
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| She looks ahead with cold unseeing eyes; | |
| She cares not though she bear or cause to perish; | 10 |
| The children whom she nurtures she will cherish, | |
| But when she weans them, every claim denies. | |
| Evil and Good gather them in thereafter | |
| And play the cosmic game with idle laughter. | | | | |
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