Zinaida Hippius (Mme. Dmitry Merezhkovsky) (b. 1869)

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 falsehood’s gardens.

I save truth’s 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.