I heard the voice. It promised solace.
"Come here," it seemed so softly call.
"Leave Russia, sinning, lost and graceless,
Leave your land, pray, for good and all.
I'll cleanse your hands from blood that stains you,
And from your heart draw back black shame,
The hurts of failure, wrongs that pain you
I'll veil with yet another name."
With even calm deliberation
I raised my hands to stop my ears,
Lest that ignoble invitation
Defile a spirit lost in tears.
Мне голос был. Он звал утешно.
Он говорил: «Иди сюда,
Оставь свой край глухой и грешный.
Оставь Россию навсегда.
Я кровь от рук твоих отмою,
Из сердца выну черный стыд,
Я новым именем покрою
Боль поражений и обид».
Но равнодушно и спокойно
Руками я замкнула слух,
Чтоб этой речью недостойной
Не осквернился скорбный слух.
«They scrape — the hanging lanterns’ balls, / Which had been lighted so early. / The snow flakes, in their by-falls, / Shine brighter and more festive-fairly. And, speeding forth their even race, / As if well-feeling their chase own, / The horses run through falling flakes / Under th...»
«He, who was called by men in days of yore, / A king — in mock, in truthfulness — a god, / Who was once killed — whose tools of suffer sore / By my hot breast is permanently wormed… They tested Death — the witnesses of Jesus, / Severe solders, and she-gossips old, / The Rome p...»
«How it is simple to leave life for ever, / Without thoughts and pains to end to blaze, / But for the Russian poets there was never / Given the right for such a blessed death. / Most likely, a lead would open Heavens / For the winged soul’s non-awaited flight, / Or a brute awe, with paw...»
«I absolutely stopped the smiling, / A white frost tries my lips to froze, / One hope’s gone from hopes’ filing, / One song will come to songs, morose. / And this song, seeing none or hearing, / I’ll give to mocking and defiance / Because it is beyond all bearing — / The pain o...»