Bella Akhmadulina
- Music lessons, by Alexander Givental and Elysee Wilson-Egolf
(I love, Marina, that you were, like all...) - Music lessons, by Elaine Feinstein
(Marina, how I love to know that...)
«When our vigor is descending, / And strength beginning to decay, / We must, like temporary tenants, / For new arrivals clear the way. Then save us, our guardian angel, / From harsh reproofs and petty fuss, / From calumny against the changes / The future has in store for us. Let us not ...»
«As Darkness descends on the ocean, / As Night spreads her silvery veil, / A brigantine cuts through the waters / And glides downwind at full sail. Her tall topsail masts are not bending, / Her vanes are not moved by the air, / Her cannons face open deck hatches / With silent indifferent...»
«When our decrepit energies turn traitor, / when, like former tenants, / we let our house to the young, / save us then, good spirit, / from faint-hearted reproaches, / from slander, from animosity / at our changing life, / from feelings of suppressed spite / at the world which is bein...»
«When waning strength of soul and body / Does hint that our fate is sealed, / And we, old-timers, must be ready / Our kingdom to new-comers yield, — Then kindly spare us, o good genius, / The craven, cowardly reproach, / The slander, and the spite continuous / At our life’s decrepit ...»