Boris Pasternak
- If I had known what would come later..., by Cecil Maurice Bowra
- If only, when I made my début..., by Babette Deutsch
«To M. L. Lozinsky Nearing mysterious mountain tops, / I can’t defeat the fear I feel; / content with every swallow aloft, / I love how the bells rise into a peal. I’m an ancient walker. A chasm reveals / a sagging bridge I approach and cross; / I think I can hear the snow uncongeal, ...»
«Hagia Sophia, where the Lord ordained / that the emperors and nations should halt, / that dome of yours hangs on a chain / from the heavens, observers report. The centuries followed Justinian’s lead / when, for the sake of gods that were foreign, / Ephesian Diana allowed him to steal / ...»
«Hagia Sophia, the Lord commanded / That nations and kings should stop here! / For your cupola, in the words of eye-witness, / As on a chain, is suspended from the heaven. Justinian set an example for all ages, / When Diana of Ephesus permitted / To steal for alien Gods / One hundred and...»
«The parishioners are children of dust, / no icons here but the boards / where the psalms of Johann Sebastian / are nothing but numbers in chalk. What clashing voices reside / in disorderly pubs and cathedrals, / but Bach, you exult like Isaiah: / nobody trumps you in reason. High-level...»