Alexander Blok
Yes, I have loved. And the mad glowing...

Yes, I have loved. And the mad glowing
Of love’s drunk pain is at an end.
The triumph and the overthrowing,
The name of “foe”, the word of “friend”.

There have been many. . . . Are all fleeting?
Mere memories and shades of dreams.
Strangely I call them up, repeating
The golden music of their names.

There have been many. But a single
Charm bound them all in unity,
One frenzied Beauty made them mingle;
Its name is Love and Life to me!

Passion mysteriously breaking,
Lifted above the world on high
I saw another woman seeking
The fated place where passions lie.

And those same words, those same embraces.
On greedy lips the tedious lure.
Shoulders with ever-fading graces. . . .
No! Life unloving, empty, pure!

In my breast exultation surges;
From mountain-summits deep in snow
I send an avalanche by gorges
Where once I loved and kissed below!

Translated by Cecil Maurice Bowra