An as it's going often at love's breaking,
The ghost of first days came again to us,
The silver willow through window then stretched in,
The silver beauty of her gentle branches.
The bird began to sing the song of light and pleasure
To us, who fears to lift looks from the earth,
Who are so lofty, bitter and intense,
About days when we were saved together.
И, как всегда бывает в дни разрыва,
К нам постучался призрак первых дней,
И ворвалась серебряная ива
Седым великолепием ветвей.
Нам, исступленным, горьким и надменным,
Не смеющим глаза поднять с земли,
Запела птица голосом блаженным
О том, как мы друг друга берегли.
«I know the truth! Renounce all others! / There’s no need for anyone to fight. / For what? — Poets, generals, lovers? / Look: it’s evening, look: almost night. Ah, the wind drops, earth is wet with dew, / Ah, the snow will freeze the stars that move. / And soon, under the earth, we...»
«Starlit houses, and sky below, / Earth dazed in the nearness. / The same secret longing though / In Paris, so vast and joyous. The evening boulevards noisy, / The last ray of light dies, / Couples, paired round me, / Fierce lips, insolent eyes. I’m alone. It’s sweet to rest / My ...»
«And after this, having established first, / that between you and me — are miles! / That I count myself among the ragged, / that my place in the world is honest: under the wheels of excess: / at the table of freaks, cripples, humpbacks: / after this, from a bell tower, / I declare: I l...»
«And God be with you! / Be — sheep! / Go in flocks, flocks / without dreams, without thoughts of your own / after Hitler or Stalin Display on your sprawled bodies / star or Swastika hooks.»