Midnight phantoms hover
Glittering bright with sparks in the darkness.
But my eyes cannot make out
How many of them, on their ominous wings.
Midnight phantoms groan
Like a sick man in exhausted sleep,
They rise to the surface, and groan and sink again –—
But what are they groaning about?
Midnight phantoms howl,
Like a dog frightened by ghosts;
Now surging in, now parting over the abyss,
As a wave uncovers a cliff.
Полуночные образы реют,
Блещут искрами ярко впотьмах,
Но глаза различить не умеют,
Много ль их на тревожных крылах.
Полуночные образы стонут,
Как больной в утомительном сне,
И всплывают, и стонут, и тонут —
Но о чем это стонут оне?
Полуночные образы воют,
Как духов испугавшийся пес;
То нахлынут, то бездну откроют,
Как волна обнажает утес.
«In this birch grove, / Far removed from trouble and pain, / Where the pink, unwavering light / Of morning pulsates in the heavens, / Where a limpid avalanche / Of leaves pours from on high, / Oriole, sing me a desolate song, / The song of my life. Flying above the glade, / Spying pe...»
«Earth-dweller, fifty years of age, / Like all men, both happy and unhappy, / One day I left this world and found / Myself in a silent place. / There, man scarcely existed, the last / Shreds of habit clinging to him, / And he no longer desired anything, / He had no name, no style or tit...»
«The swallow chatters brightly, / Fanning its wings with skill. / It challenges every breeze, / But conserves its forces well. / It hovers high, it hovers low, / Catches a fly as it weaves, / And rests up till morning / In its but under the eaves. In astonishment I follow, / Soar int...»
«I touched the leaves of the eucalyptus / and the firm plumes of the agave, / The sweet grass of Adzharia / Sang me its evening song. / In white dress the magnolia / Inclined its hazy form, / And the blue-blue sea of Georgia / Sang wildly by the shore. But amidst the savage splendou...»