Surely the young king must have been blind to pity
As he spoke the order: «Destroy Thebes utterly.»
The old general gazed, and knew this place to be
No better than he remembered it, a haughty city.
Put it all to the fire! There were wonders — gate
And tower and temple – everywhere the king searched,
But suddenly his face brightened with a thought:
«Be sure that the house of the Poet is not touched.»
Наверно, страшен был и грозен юный царь,
Когда он произнес: «Ты уничтожишь Фивы».
И старый вождь узрел тот город горделивый,
Каким он знал его еще когда-то встарь.
Все, все предать огню! И царь перечислял
И башни, и врата, и храмы — чудо света! —
Но вдруг задумался и, просветлев, сказал:
«Ты только присмотри, чтоб цел был Дом Поэта».
«(To my friend, S. K. Bulich) Select a dark night and in a field, unpeopled, naked, / dip into gray twilight.... May the air, having fanned, becalm, / May the stars, winking, in the cold sky slumber on.... / Tell the heart not to count its thumps.... / Stop in mid-step and listen! You're no...»
«Sad and made of copper / The symbol we are wed, / Even our comedies / End a little sadly…. / Our joyful neighbors / Wear their infernal / Hirsute fur coats…. / And that only… banal / Are our mangy bears / With prey trembling / In blood-covered lips.»
«For what purpose, when dreams betray, / That words brim over with delusions? / For what purpose, on a forgotten grave, / Grass grows greener and emits a noise? For what purpose these lunar heights, / If my garden is silent and dark? / And the tails of her plaits are untied, / And I hear...»
«Among worlds shone, amid glimmers, / A single star whose name I repeat.... / Not so that I may come to love it, / But because I am weary of the rest. And if I find doubt a burden, / I seek only from her an answer, / Not because she shines brightly / But because with her I need no light.»