Boris Pasternak
Autumn

Dissent is in my house incessant.
I’ve had all kith and kin depart,
And loneliness forever present
Has filled the nature and my heart.

I’m in this lodge with you as always.
The woods look desolate and lone,
Like in the song: all paths and pathways
With grass are halfway overgrown.

It is just us amid this forest
The cabin walls in sadness watch.
To clear no obstacles we promised;
We’ll perish but we will not dodge.

I’ll grab a book, you’ll get the stitching;
We’ll sit from one a.m. till three.
At daybreak, both will end up missing
The time we stopped the kissing spree.

Be lusher, leaves, and with more brashness
Raise quite a noise while going down;
Make bitterness of last night’s chalice
Today in wistful sadness drown.

Delight, desire, attachment subtle!
Let’s fade in sounds September made!
Get wrapped, dear girl, in autumn’s rustle,
Hold still or act completely crazed!

The way you shed your dress reminds me
Of how a grove sheds leaves en masse.
Your tassled nightgown looks so timely
Before you fall into my arms.

You are the boon of deadly umbrage
When life was sicker than disease,
But beauty’s root is always courage —
That’s why what draws us cannot cease. 

Translated by Yuri Menis