Andrey Kneller

“The Muse, therefore,is not an alternative to the beloved, but preceds her. In fact, as an “older woman,” the Muse, nee language, plays a decisive part in the sentimental development of a poet. She is responsible not only for his emotional makeup but often for the very choice of his object of passion and the manner of its pursuit. It is she who makes him fanatically single-minded, turning his love into an equivalent of her own monologue. What amounts in sentimental matters to obstinacy and obsession is essentially the dictate of the Muse, whose choice is always of an aesthetic origin and discards alternatives… The intensity of that emotional absolution is such at times it overshoots anything that lies near, and often one’s very target… In other words, the pitch gets higher for its own sake, as if the language propels a poet, especially a romantic, whence it came, where in the beginning there was a word, or a discernible sound.”

--Joseph Brodsky
Alter Ego

***

Especially from up high, the eye adores
This city, from a distance, in the evening
And life is wonderful again, - although, of course,
The last few times have proved to be deceiving.
Have I gone mad or is this love? I cannot say…
No matter what it is, this time I’m certain
That not a thing will change from day to day,
And every time I pull aside the curtains,
I feel convinced that I will recognize
The scenery unchanged. To put it loosely,
I wouldn’t miss much if I closed my eyes,
As one might do when listening to music…

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