«to Valentina Serova That's how we live, without forgetting, / Today it's him, tomorrow I. / The cup of death goes round the table / And each must wait his turn to die. If I am blind to how you treat me. / It's not because I cannot see. / It is because, around the table, / The cup comes...»
«to Valentina Serova In a dream, I saw a wedding / And I think the bride was you. / You the bride and I a beggar / At the porch — it may be true! Let it happen as I dreamed it! / Only promise, as you stand / At the porch, to have the kindness — / Put no alms into my hand!»
«to Valentina Serova With glass a thousand miles thick / Parting has glazed the windows of your flat; / And I look through, as from another world, / But not a sound is audible through that. I see you pass and sit down by the window. / You smile at someone; you get up unheard. / You speak....»
«You get from time to time a man / Who's every woman's silent friend — / A friend without ulterior aim, / A friend on whom she can depend. He's like the lifebelt on the deck / Which hangs and waits, for years unheeded, / Until at last it saves a life, / That final moment when it's need...»