Alexander Blok
You’ll vanish in the tall grass, toe to head...

You’ll vanish in the tall grass, toe to head,
You’ll enter the silent house without knocking.
She’ll wrap her arms around you and her braid,
And she’ll say, stately, “Well, hello, king!

Look, here is my bower of white roses,
And here a bindweed bloomed yesterday.
Where have you wandered, what’s the news?
Who loves us, who hates, who drives us away?”

Sometimes you forget that the days go by,
You forgive the prideful and villainous,
You watch distant clouds invade the sky
Or listen to songs of far villages.

But the heart will cry out for a fresh journey,
Yearning for battle in its restlessness.
She’ll just say, “Goodbye. Come back to me.”
And again the bell tinkles behind the grass.

Translated by Philip Nikolayev