The park was filled with a light haze,
At the gates, flames of gaslights arose,
I remembered only one gaze,
Still unknowing, calm and composed.
And your sorrow, hidden from others,
Drew me close and opened forthright,
And you saw just how much I was smothered
By the poisonous yearning inside.
How I treasure and honor that day,
I will come as soon as you call me.
Though I’m sinful and idling away,
You alone never chide me or scold me.
Вере Ивановой-Шварсалон
Туманом легким парк наполнился,
И вспыхнул на воротах газ.
Мне только взгляд один запомнился
Незнающих, спокойных глаз.
Твоя печаль, для всех неявная,
Мне сразу сделалась близка,
И поняла ты, что отравная
И душная во мне тоска.
Я этот день люблю и праздную,
Приду, как только позовешь.
Меня, и грешную и праздную,
Лишь ты одна не упрекнешь.
«1 In the trading district where a person’s feet / Can hardly step, a fortune-teller’s footsteps go / Stepping through the raging storm, a street / Where men, dead-like, sleep in the snow, — But wait, in the trading district where a per- / son’s feet can hardly step, a fortune-telle...»
«I seem adroit at picking words / As primordial as your words are. / If wrong, — it’s all the same to me, / I’ll go on making errors anyway. I hear patter on wet roofs, and eclogues / That fade from boardwalks and cobblestones. / A certain city, distinct from the first line, / Thri...»
«You have a right, turning out your pockets, / To say: rummage, grope, search. / To me clearer than finding cheese / In a daze, is the fact — morning in March. Trees with fleecy peasant coats / Stand in the half-exposed soil. / Outside the close room, the weight / On the branches seems...»
«Unbelievable, — they declared, — rubbish, / But I overheard it from a second, / Third, everyone. Into stopped time / Lined up without distinction were / Houses of officials and business men, / With yards and trees covered with / Rook-cocks, in sun’s intoxication, / Flaring up at ...»