We know what trembles in the scales,
What has to be accomplished.
The hour for courage. If all else fails,
With courage we are not unfurnished.
What though the dead be crowded, each to each,
What though our houses be destroyed? —
We will preserve you, Russian speech,
Keep you alive, great Russian word.
We will pass you to our sons and heirs
Free and clean, and they in turn to theirs,
And so forever.
Мы знаем, что́ ныне лежит на весах
И что́ совершается ныне.
Час мужества про́бил на наших часах,
И мужество нас не покинет.
Не страшно под пулями мёртвыми лечь,
Не горько остаться без крова.
И мы сохраним тебя, русская речь,
Великое русское слово.
Свободным и чистым тебя пронесём,
И внукам дадим, и от плена спасём —
Навеки!
«A forward rejoices on the run, / where's there now for him to hide? / since his bones give no protection / to his body opened wide. / His soul flies like a cape, / his collar bone loudly clangs / against the clasp fixed on his cape, / the membrane in his ear bangs, / the grape dances...»
«Deep within a bottle paradise / where palm trees withered long ago, / dazzled by electric bulbs, / a window in a goblet swam; / it flickered on the fan-blades, / then grew heavy, downwards slid; / and beery smoke hovered inside... / But it’s impossible to describe. And in this bottl...»
«Look: it’s not a ball, nor masquerade, / here night’s passing is mistimed, / here wild laughter, wine-besotted, / flies about like a parrot, blind; / hills and bridges come apart, / lovers gather in a crowd, / one is ardent, another jaded, / a third one’s head is bowed... / Lov...»
«Scarlet light of sunset shows up on the lake. / Grouses are crying in the wood, awake. Hidden in a hollow, cries an oriole. / I donТt feel like crying, brightness in my soul. YouТll come out to meet meа later in the day, / WeТll sit down there under stack of hay. I will kiss and squeeze...»