Don't fear death in earthly travels.
Don't fear enemies or friends.
Just listen to the words of prayers,
To pass the facets of the dreads.
Your death will come to you, and never
You shall be, else, a slave of life,
Just waiting for a dawn's favor,
From nights of poverty and strife.
She'll build with you a common law,
One will of the Eternal Reign.
And you are not condemned to slow
And everlasting deadly pain.
Не бойся умереть в пути.
Не бойся ни вражды, ни дружбы.
Внимай словам церковной службы,
Чтоб грани страха перейти.
Она сама к тебе сойдет.
Уже не будешь в рабстве тленном
Манить смеющийся восход
В обличьи бедном и смиренном.
Она и ты — один закон,
Одно веленье Высшей Воли.
Ты не навеки обречен
Отчаянной и смертной боли.
«Dedicated to P. Chagin I know my talent well. / That writing poetry / Is not so difficult, I can attest. / But, poetry apart, / The love I bear my country, / Has tortured me, / Given my.heart no rest. To praise in rhyme / A girl, the stars or moonlight — / Why, anyone can do that...»
«You remember, / Of course, you remember / How I stood / With my back to the wall / While you paced the room in a temper / And many a sharp word / Let fall. You said: / It was high time we parted, / My mad life / Was torturing you. / You’d work to do and had to start on it, / ...»
«On my heart’s blood drink is no more feeding, / Those old fears of mine I now can calm. / To a teahouse I have come to heal them / With the dark-blue flowers of Teheran. Serving me himself, the tubby owner, / Keen before his Russian guest to shine. / Sets upon the table dainty bowls of ...»
«Today I asked the man who changes / Tumans for rubles, one for two, / How should I say to the fair Lala / In Persian softly: “I love you”. Today I asked the money-changer, / In tones as soft as Lake Van’s bliss, / How should I make to the fair Lala / Sweet references to “kiss”...»