One bearded sage concluded: there's no motion.
Without a word, another walked before him.
He couldn’t answer better; all adored him
And all agreed that he disproved that notion.
But one can see it all in a different light,
For me, another funny thought comes into play:
We watch the sun move all throughout the day
And yet the stubborn Galileo had it right.
Движенья нет, сказал мудрец брадатый.
Другой смолчал и стал пред ним ходить.
Сильнее бы не мог он возразить;
Хвалили все ответ замысловатый.
Но, господа, забавный случай сей
Другой пример на память мне приводит:
Ведь каждый день пред нами Солнце ходит,
Однако ж прав упрямый Галилей.
«Stars raced headlong. Seaward headlands lathered. / Salt spray blinded. Eyes dried up their tears. / Darkness filled the bedrooms. Thoughts raced headlong. / To Sahara Sphinx turned patient ears. Candles guttered. Blood, it seemed, was frozen / In the huge Colossus. Lips at play / Swelled...»
«That year! How often “Out you fall!” / That old year's whisper at my window said. / The new year makes an end of all / And brings a Dickens Christmas tale instead. He murmurs: “Shake yourself, forget.” / Mercury rises with the sun outside, / Just as the old year strychnine set / ...»
«Dawn shakes the candle, shoots a flame / To light the wren and does not miss. / I search my memories and proclaim: / "May life be always fresh as this!” Like a shot dawn rang through the night. / Bang-bang it went. In swooning flight / The wads of bullets flame and hiss. / May life be...»
«So they begin. With two years gone / From nurse to countless tunes they scuttle. / They chirp and whistle. Then comes on / The third year, and they start to prattle. So they begin to see and know. / In din of started turbines roaring / Mother seems not their mother now. / And you not yo...»