Arseny Tarkovsky
Life, life

I

The auguries don't bother me, and signs
Don't scare me off. I don't evade the slander
Or poison. Since — there is no death.
We are immortal — everything's immortal.
One shouldn't be scared of death, be it at nine —
Or ninety. There is only life and light —
The universe has neither death nor darkness.
We all are now at the seashore. I
Am one of those who are hauling fish nets
When immortality is zooming by.

II

Live in the house — then it will survive.
I can call out any given era,
I'll enter it to build my home inside.
And I will gather at the table there
Together both your children and your wives.
Same table there: for the kids and the grandparents,
As future is accomplished on our view.
And if I lift my hand up in the air,
All of the five rays will remain with you.
Each moment of the past I have supported
With pillars of my own collarbones;
I’ve measured time with a surveyor’s ruler
And crossed it as the Urals rock — at once.

III

I picked the time whose stature measured mine.
We headed south, raising dust around,
The weeds were smoking and grasshopper danced.
His whiskers touching horseshoes while predicting
My sudden death like a prophetic monk.
I strapped my fate into my saddle strongly,
Yet, riding through the future I enjoy
And stand upright in my stirrups like a boy.
I’ve had my span, with timelessness endowed.
For, through the ages, blood of mine to flow,
And for a corner with its warmth to glow,
I’d give my life, without a moment doubt,
But, like a needle, it must stay the course
And pull me — hapless thread — through Universe.

Translated by Maya Jouravel