Arseny Tarkovsky’s poem “In the Middle of the World” about man between infusoria and the stars

In the Middle of the World. Arseny Tarkovsky

I am a man, I am in the middle of the world,
Behind me are myriads of infusoria,
Before me are myriads of stars.
I have lain down between them at my full height,
Two shores joined by the sea,
A bridge that has united two cosmoses.

I am Nestor, chronicler of the Mesozoic,
I am Jeremiah of the times to come.
Holding a watch and a calendar in my hands,
I am drawn into the future, like Russia,
And I curse the past, like a beggar tsar.

I know more about death than the dead do,
I am the most alive of the living.
And, my God, some moth,
Like a little girl, laughs at me,
Like a scrap of golden silk.

Literal translation

1958