And cursing each other with brute
Passion, white-hot all through,
Neither one of us understood
How small the earth was for two,
That memory torments with spite,
Afflicting the most strong-hearted,
That one learns to plead in the night:
Where has my friend departed?
And as the choir voices rise,
Happy and menacing, that instant,
The same two stern and certain eyes
Survey the soul, persistent.
И когда друг друга проклинали
В страсти, раскалённой добела,
Оба мы ещё не понимали,
Как земля для двух людей мала,
И что память яростная мучит,
Пытка сильных — огненный недуг! —
И в ночи́ бездонной сердце учит
Спрашивать: о, где ушедший друг?
А когда, сквозь волны фимиама,
Хор гремит, ликуя и грозя,
Смотрят в душу строго и упрямо
Те же неизбежные глаза.
«Cast prostrate, in mourning, / Wingless, self-scorning, / Grief in a gust / Flings us, dust upon dust. / We desire not, we dare not, / We believe not, we care not, / No wisdom has worth. / God, do thou dower us, / Kindle, empower us, / Give of thy mirth. / From the languor that c...»
« Over earth awakes a whirring, / And a rustling, and a stirring, / Trumpet-voices fill the skies: / "Lo, they call us. Brothers, rise!" / "No. The darkness holds unshaken. / I will sleep, and not awaken. / Do not rouse me. Do not call. / Do not strike the coffin-wall." "Now you dare ...»
«With heavy anguish, hopeless straining, / The bonds of love I would remove. / Oh, to be loosed from their enchaining! / Oh, freedom, only not to love! The soul that shame and fear are scourging / Crawls through a mist of dust and blood. / From dust, great God, my spirit purging, / Oh, s...»
«In days gone by, when all of life's / Impressions offered me new thrills: / A murmurous grove, a maiden's eyes, / The nightingale in twilit hills.... / When my sublimest aspirations / For freedom, glory, love and art / Instilled of holy inspiration, / So stirred the blood and spurred t...»