He was promised to me by it all:
The pleasant dream at Christmastime,
The tarnished sky of red and gold,
And Easter winds that seemed to chime,
The red rods of the twigs, all nestled,
And waterfalls within the park,
And two big dragonflies that rested
Atop the fence corroded dark.
And it was hopeless not to hope
For all our friendship would entail,
As I walked up the mountain slope
Over the hot stones of the trail.
Все обещало мне его:
Край неба, тусклый и червонный,
И милый сон под Рождество,
И Пасхи ветер многозвонный,
И прутья красные лозы,
И парковые водопады,
И две большие стрекозы
На ржавом чугуне ограды.
И я не верить не могла,
Что будет дружен он со мною,
Когда по горным склонам шла
Горячей каменной тропою.
«To Iosif Utkin* Fresh oats he’ll feed / To the horses on top the Bolshoi**, / Four spirited steeds / Strong and fast1 as a river in spate. / We’ve caught up with that woman... / Are you called Cleopatra? My joy, / Come to me, come, / I’m waiting for you at the gate. I shall sho...»
«I've bad a name ever since birth, / Cherished my own opinion... / Believe me, friends, I’m most averse / To pass into oblivion. It’s not that, when my body’s old, / I'll grudge the good earth having it. / My great love is inspiring life / In things that are inanimate. The river b...»
«To Rodam Amirejibi** I am taking you, Suliko, / Down the paths of memory’s maze / In the charmed land of long-ago / Where I lived in my youthful days. It was such a long time ago... / The Ukraine... How the sun then shone! / Through the wild steppe gallopped Makhno*** / Pointing stra...»
«There was a black cross on his chest / No engraving, no design, no patina: / A treasured heirloom charm / Bequeathed to this alien Italian. My Neapolitan boy what will be left / Of you here on the Russian fields? / Were you not happy enough / On that magnificent bay? I shot you dead ...»