Amid the virgin maples and the weeping birches
Upon those arrogant pines to gaze I cannot brook;
The flocks of my sweet living daydreams they disturb,
Hateful to me their sober look.
Amid the gathering of their reborn neighbours
It's they alone that stir not, whisper not, nor sigh,
And they, immutable, remind the joyous springtime
Of the bleak winter days gone by.
And when the forest shall the last dry leaf let fall
And silently await the spring's new life again,
They, breathing fear to other generations, shall
In all their beauty cold remain.
Средь клёнов девственных и плачущих берёз
Я видеть не могу надменных этих сосен;
Они смущают рой живых и сладких грёз,
И трезвый вид мне их несносен.
В кругу воскреснувших соседей лишь оне
Не знают трепета, не шепчут, не вздыхают
И, неизменные, ликующей весне
Пору́ зимы напоминают.
Когда уронит лес последний лист сухой
И, смолкнув, станет ждать весны и возрожденья, —
Они останутся холодною красой
Пугать иные поколенья.
«To every infant love is given, — / but between work, / profits / and other stuff, / from evening to evening, / the crust of the heart grows rough. / The heart wears a body, / that body — a shirt. / and that's not all, they're obsessed! / an idiot! — / inventing cuff-links,...»
«As a kid, I was gifted with lots of love. / From childhood on, / folks / are overcome by chores. / I — / ran away once I had enough, / and procrastinated, / walking along the Rion shores. / My mom got angry: / “What a wicked child!” / My dad said his belt would teach me som...»
«In adolescence, major decisions are made. / Any fool is taught grammar and reason. / But I / was kicked out of my school in 5th grade / and thrown in and out of the Moscow prisons. / Your / apartment-sized world / is one of the littlest. / There, you breed many curly-haired lyricists...»
«You know French. / You divide / and multiply even better. / Derive easily. / Well, keep deriving, you hear me? / Tell me this — / can you sing with the buildings / together? / Do you know the language streetcars are speaking? / The human fledgling / from the egg first rises —...»