Poetry Friday

It's National Poetry Month in the US. I'm in Canada. But I'm an expat. Any excuse to post some poetry, really. Shall we stick with the bird imagery, then?

Your image, tormenting and elusive,
I could not touch in the mist.
"God!" I said by mistake
never thinking to say that myself.

God's name like a gigantic bird
flew out from my breast.
Before me thick mist swarms
behind me stands an empty cage.

-Osip Mandelshtam (trans. David McDuff)

There's nothing below the fold.