«If desires fly by like shadows, / If vows are empty words, / Is it worth it to live in this fog of delusion, / Is it worth it to live if the truth is dead? Does one need eternity for useless striving, / Does one need eternity for deceptive words? / What is worthy of life lives without dou...»
«Oh, genius of Stratford, return! / Return to your foggy Avon / Where men still are men of grandeur. / Of wisdom — severe and gray. / Return, unexpected as before. / Stride into the world in Brabantine lace, / In an old camisole and high boots / That have been patched on every stage. ...»
«The old man shuffles to the fish market / To buy half a pound of perch. / A mimosa glitters with drops of rain. / The river’s smooth surface gleams. O, these provincial lodgings. / Local voices. The barking of dogs. / Life here consists of food and drink. / A bed. A roof. Tobacco. Vi...»
«You were given an incomprehensible name. / Yon are oblivion. / Or, more accurately, potassium cyanide Is your name. / Georgy Adamovich Oh, how fastidious you once were, / My friends. / You did not drink vodka, could not abide it. / You preferred Nuit St. Georges. Now our daily bread is...»