Ah, why do your eyes occasionally
Gaze at me so severely
And why torture my soul with distress
From your cold, unaffectionate gaze,
From your cold, unaffectionate gaze?
Without a smile and in proud silence
You go like a shadow before me,
And, in spirit, having concealed the suffering,
I jealously follow after you.
Jealously follow after you.
You with your love brighten
As in spring my sad days.
Caress me, as you used to,
Drive away my grief with affection.
Caress me, as you used to,
Drive away my grief with affection.
Why do your eyes occasionally
Gaze at me so severely, so severely?
Ах, зачем твои глазки порою
На меня так сурово глядят
И томит мою душу тоскою
Твой холодный, неласковый взгляд,
Твой холодный, неласковый взгляд?
Без улыбки и в гордом молчаньи
Ты проходишь как тень предо мною,
И, в душе затаивши страданье,
Я ревниво слежу за тобою,
Ревниво слежу за тобою.
Ты любовью своей озаряла,
Как весной, мои грустные дни.
Приласкай же меня, как бывало,
Лаской прочь мою грусть отгони.
Приласкай же меня, как бывало,
Лаской прочь мою грусть отгони.
Зачем же твои глазки порою
На меня так сурово, так сурово глядят.
«I happened upon a devillet / with the body of a child. / Thin and scrawny like a gnat; / his face was sharp, and shy, and old. His body trembled in the rain; / his fur was dark and ruffled. / It was a sorry sight; I feared / this devillet might snuff it. “Love! Love!” I hear all ro...»
«In your long jackets, broad-brimmed hats, / with notebooks of your poems, / you disintegrated long ago in dust / like fallen lilac blossom. Yours is a country free of ready forms, / where all is mingled, fractured, dislocated, / where there’s no sky — only a grave mound — / and th...»
«They’ve cut a hole in the deep / dense blue of the ice: / a breathing space for big fish and little, / water for bringers of buckets, / a way out for a weary traveler / if she and life turn out after all / to be traveling different roads / and she has nowhere to go.»
«I pardon all your sins — / but two I can’t abide: / You read poems in silence / and kiss aloud. So sin, blossom, be merry — / but take my advice: / a kiss, my darling, is not for the ear, / and music is not for the eyes.»