“Your palms are fiery,
The Easter bells ring loud,
You’re tempted, like St. Anthony,
By visions all around.”
“How was such day’s affair
Mixed with the holy days,
Like thick and tangled hair
Of Magdalenes half-crazed.”
“Thus only children love,
Just once, and then it dies.”
“No light is strong enough —
To match those tranquil eyes."
“This is the devil’s bluff,
Such longing — an offense.”
“No white is white enough —
To match that of her hands.”
«Горят твои ладони,
В ушах пасхальный звон,
Ты как святой Антоний,
Виденьем искушен».
«Зачем во дни святые
Ворвался день один,
Как волосы густые
Безумных Магдалин».
«Так любят только дети,
И то лишь первый раз».
«Сильней всего на свете
Лучи спокойных глаз».
«То дьявольские сети,
Нечистая тоска».
«Белей всего на свете
Была ее рука».
«Wake as you will, but wake in me, — / in the cold, in the voiceless depths of me. I will not beg for words, but give / me a sign that you are still alive. Not for long — just a moment of your time. / If not a verse, just a sigh, just a cry. Just a whisper or just a moan. / Just t...»
«But I keep remembering one of them, / that first spring of the blockade… / / How many rusty beds and bunks / littered the streets those days! / They hunched down among the ruins / senselessly trying to screen them. / Their sombre, bony dance twirled / everywhere the ground was bei...»
«When I set out my mother gave me / a little ikon depicting Silence. / Dumbly desperate now, for long / it has had no work beseeching god. / / And the blessed angel of Silence / watched over me jealously. / Twice – and it was no accident – / he turned me from the path. He knew…...»
«I still believe that I shall return to life, / shall wake early one day, at dawn, / in the light, early hours, in the transparent dew, / where the branches are studded with drops, / and a small lake stands in the sundew’s bowl, / reflecting the swift flight of the clouds. / And, inclin...»