Draft of a poem addressed to V.A. Zlobin. 1944

Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (1869-1945)
Draft of a poem addressed to V.A. Zlobin. 1944
Autograph manuscript poem addressed to V.A. Zlobin, untitled, n.p., n.d. [1944]

In Russian and French. In pen and pencil, 22 lines on one page, 223 x 171mm, a draft with cancellations and emendations.

Ya byl by rad, chtob eto bylo,
Chtob tak ono moglo i byt',
No chtob dusha u vas zabyla
Lish' to, chto nado yey zabyt'.

Draft of a poem addressed to V.A. Zlobin. In a characteristic flash of androgyny, Gippius writes here in the masculine gender. The draft in French appears to continue the thought of the poem, perhaps referring to Zlobin's relationship both with herself and her late husband, Merezhkovsky: 'It is about the friend – I will call him ours / As he was mine – he was also yours'. The inscription to Zlobin is given in the published version of the poem.

Vladimir Ananievich Zlobin (1894-1967) was the secretary to Gippius and Merezhokovsky during their exile, living together with them, and after their deaths becoming the curator of their archives. There has been some speculation that he also had a sexual relationship with Gippius.

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