I have enough treasures from the past
to last me longer than I need, or want.
You know as weU as I... malevolent memory
won't let go of half of them:
a modest church, with its gold cupola
slightly askew; a harsh chorus
of crows; the whistle of a train;
a birch-tree haggard in a field
as if it had just been sprung from jail;
a secret midnight conclave
of monumental Bible-oaks;
and a tiny rowboat that comes drifting out
of somebody's dreams, slowly foundering.
Winter has already loitered here,
lightly powdering these fields,
casting an impenetrable haze
that fills the world as far as the horizon.
I used to think that after we are gone
there's nothing, simply nothing at all.
Then who's that wandering by the porch
again and calling us by name?
Whose face is pressed against the frosted pane?
What hand out there is waving like a branch?
By way of reply, in that cobwebbed corner
a sunstruck tatter dances in the mirror.
Прошлогодних сокровищ моих
Мне надолго, к несчастью, не хватит.
Знаешь сам, половины из них
Злая память никак не истратит:
Набок сбившийся куполок,
Грай вороний, и вопль паровоза,
И как будто отбывшая срок
Ковылявшая в поле береза,
И огромных библейских дубов
Полуночная тайная сходка,
И из чьих-то приплывшая снов
И почти затонувшая лодка...
Побелив эти пашни чуть-чуть,
Там предзимье уже побродило,
Дали все в непроглядную муть
Ненароком оно превратило.
И казалось, что после конца
Никогда ничего не бывает...
Кто же бродит опять у крыльца
И по имени нас окликает?
Кто приник к ледяному стеклу
И рукою, как веткою, машет?..
А в ответ в паутинном углу
Зайчик солнечный в зеркале пляшет.
«The circus shines, like a shield, / Finger trills, moodily Pipes, unites folk! / Gentle, small-faced, a girl, / Spanish-looking, with flowers in her hair, / Radiant as an angel, whirls, / Waltzes a Cossack dance. / Like a white seabird / She stands in the thick smoke, / Then, her gui...»
«Animals do not sleep. At night / They stand over the world like a stone wall. The cow’s retreating head / Rustles the straw with its smooth horns, / The rocky brow a wedge / Between age-old cheekbones, / And the mute eyes / Turning sluggishly. There’s more intelligence and beauty i...»
«The signs of the Zodiac are fading / Above the wide expanse of fields. / And the animal, the Dog, sleeps, / And the bird, the Sparrow, slumbers. / Mermaids soar, broad in the beam, / Soar straight up into the heavens, / With their arms as stout as boughs / And their breasts as round as...»
«Open, Open, / The gates of the tsar! / Darkness dimmed and poured out far. / With clean heat / Burns the altar — / Resurrect, Christ, / Yesterday's tsar! Without glory fell / Two-headed eagle. / Tsar — you were wrong. He'll remember inheritance / Many more times — ...»