| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | The Pendulum | | By Yurgis Baltrushaitis (b. 1873) |
| | | WHEN the dumb darkness most heavily clings, | |
| Rhythmic and ruthless my pendulum swings. | |
| Rustily creaking or whining dismay, | |
| Urging each tarrying moment away. | |
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| Longing, it seems, for the days that are fled, | 5 |
| Down ancient stairways resounds someone’s tread. | |
| Heavy the footfall on flagstones unlit,— | |
| Lower and lower and down to the pit. | |
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| Praying, it seems, for a long-vanished shore, | |
| Dumbly the Helmsman with slow stubborn oar | 10 |
| Brokenly rows me, morosely alone, | |
| Into my harbor, afar and unknown. | |
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| Evil the Ferryman, darkly he pounds; | |
| Farther and farther, more muffled resounds, | |
| Hostile and hopeless, the long downward climb: | 15 |
| Cold, ineluctable footsteps of Time. | | | | |
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