«Three students sit with a pair of whores: /   Dudilenko, Barsov, and Blok; / Dasha wears a kerchief and a boa, /    And Kasha a shawl and a frock. The workman's lamps have burned right down, /    All eyes are on the cards they play, / Heads bent low, necks and shoulders round,...»
«    It's dark... / The bastard street lamp's run away /      And wine / Has, like a sea squall, made my frail ship sway. /      In the dark / I grab at a telegraph pole for support. /      I feel fine / But something's gone wrong with my leg. /   Â...»
«(Aria for a broken voice) My head's a dark lantern with shattered panes / And open to the winds on every side, / I wander around with drunk women of nights, / In the mornings doctors inspect my insides. I'm a boil on the seat of Russian verse's fine name. / Let thunder burst me in four hun...»
«Some love a laundress and others love a duchess, / Each person's opiate is his own, / But I'm in love with the concierge's daughter. / Our romance is an autumnal thing. On our block, Liza is considered stuffy, / She doesn't like displays of love, / But still she often sneaks around to see...»