Confusion
III
You approached me, smiling mildly,
As by civility’s demand,
Then, half tenderly and half idly,
With a kiss you brushed my hand —
And the faces, mysterious, ancient,
Cast their gazes on me forthright…
All ten years of my trepidations,
Each and every sleepless night
I then placed in a quiet word
And I voiced it — in vain, unsure.
You walked off and with order restored,
My soul was empty and pure
Смятение
3
Как велит простая учтивость,
Подошёл ко мне, улыбнулся,
Полуласково, полулениво
Поцелуем руки коснулся —
И загадочных древних ликов
На меня поглядели очи…
Десять лет замираний и криков,
Все мои бессонные ночи
Я вложила в тихое слово
И сказала его — напрасно.
Отошел ты, и стало снова
На душе и пусто и ясно.
«Thee'd recollect, / Thee'd recollect this surely, / How I did stay near the wall and see / Thee, walking round the room and during this, / Overexcited, threw the words. / Thee said, / That there's the time to parting, / That thee'd become exhausted with my life, / That there's the ti...»
«It’s already evening. / The dew sparkles on the nettles / I stand in the road / learning on a willow tree. The light of the full moon / is falling on our roof / Somewhere far off / I hear the song of a nightingale. Like a stove in the winter / everything is nice and warm. / And t...»
«There where the sunrise light / waters the cabbage rows / a young maple tree is sucking / at its mother’s pale green udder.»
«In the mist the flood water / licks the river silt. / The moon has dropped / her yellow reins. The red haystacks in the fields / look like churches. / With a mournful croaking / the black woodcocks call me to all-night mass. The dark blue grove / conceals your poverty. / I’ll pra...»