First Frost by Andrei Voznesensky

[lilac_whispers]

First Ice
by Andrei Voznesensky
translated by George Reavey

A girl freezes in a telephone booth.
In her draughty overcoat she hides
A face all smeared
in lipstick and tears.

She breathes on her thin palms.
Her fingers are icicles. She wears ear-rings.

She'll have to walk home alone,
Along the ice-bound street.

First ice. The very first time.
The first ice of telephone phrases.

Frozen tears glisten on her cheeks-
The first ice of human hurt.

This poem is interesting because I have two translations of it, the second titled "First Frost". I tend to like the one under the cut more, but certain lines from this one grab me. Which do you prefer? Why? :)



First Frost
by Andrei Voznesensky
translated by Stanley Kunitz

A girl is freezing in a telephone booth,
huddled in her flimsy coat,
her face stained by tears
and smeared with lipstick.

She breathes on her thin little fingers.
Fingers like ice. Glass beads in her ears.

She has to beat her way back alone
down the icy street.

First frost. A beginning of losses.
The first frost of telephones phrases.

It is the start of winter glittering on her cheek,
the first frost of having been hurt.