O Muse of Tears…
Tsvetaeva
…I turned away from everything,
From earth’s every blessing.
The stump in the water became
The guardian spirit of this place.
We are akin to guests on this planet,
To live – is simply a habit.
In the air I seem to hear
Two voices exchanging thought.
Two? ...But by the eastern wall,
Among its tangle of raspberries,
There’s a branch of elder, fresh and dark.
Ah! It’s a message from Marina.
...И отступилась я здесь от всего,
От земного всякого блага.
Духом, хранителем «места сего»
Стала лесная коряга.
Все мы немного у жизни в гостях,
Жить — это только привычка.
Чудится мне на воздушных путях
Двух голосов перекличка.
Двух? А еще у восточной стены,
В зарослях крепкой малины,
Темная, свежая ветвь бузины...
Это — письмо от Марины.
«I went to bliss. The footpath gleamed / The ruby tint of evening dew, / And ebbing in my spirit streamed / The distant song of dawn anew. The song of dawn, as sunset strove / To fade away. The heavens glowed, / And through the welkin’s seas above / The flames of evening purple flowed....»
«He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but / the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth / and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of / the bridegroom’s voice. / From John III.29 I’m ten years old. I light a wick / And shield the censer’s nascent flame. / Without a word or ...»
«Amidst the planets, in the heavens’ glimmer, / There’s just one Star whose name I’ll ever say. / It’s not because I am in love with Her, / But as, with other stars, I waste away. And if I’m feeling painfully unsure, / I’ll come to Her alone to ease my plight. / It’s not beca...»
«A half-holiday for the burial. Of course, they punish / the provincial copper bells for hours; / terribly the nose tilts up like a tallow candle / from the coffin. Does it wish to draw breath / from its torso in a mourning.suit? The last snow / fell sombrely — white, then the roads were ...»