Amplification Poem by viacheslav kupriyanov

Every living thing wants to amplify
From an amoeba to a T-Rex
From a bacillus to a wretched human
To amplify what it already has
And beyond that to obtain
What it is still missing
No one is content to remain in bondage
Of one's own extent
And no one ever has enough freedom
The thought of freedom is brought about
By the sight of an open sea -- freedom! -- but then

A faltering fear of boundless space
That the abyss of the sea multiplies
By the abyss of the sky
The fear of depths
Not to mention the fear of soaring
Or something else also pregnant with fear:
To suddenly see yourself as a russian colombo
To discover america beyond the shining sea
To populate it with russian cossacks and gold diggers
And then out of this russian america
To contemplate russia and europe
That is: are we or are we not europe?
And on the basis of this american disposition
To decide that rather than think about europe
It's better to make europe think as we direct it
That is with respect to the ancient greeks' dialectics
But then where is a better place for a monument to the unforgettable freedom
If not in this russian america
Surely not in ancient greece
Where a thinker who wanted to think freely
Had to maintain at least a dozen slaves
Each of which perhaps harbored
An unborn new epictetus or aesop

What else would we like to amplify?
This earth and this starry sky?
To multiply the number of slaves on the earth or waves on the sea
The number of stars on the still-free sky?
And could it be that stars somewhere
Or someone on the visible heavenly bodies
Is eager just to see me as a slave
A worshipper of stars and a bookkeeper of galaxies?
And even in the night sky
Who has more freedom? --
The steady immobile constellations
Awaiting who knows what moment of stardom
Or the meteors emerging who knows from where
And flaring hastily up
These fugitive slaves from the plantations
Of the invisible starry sky…

Translated from Russian by Dmitri Manin