(The Wedding)
Having crossed the curb in the courtyard,
the Landlord journeyed to the feast,
into the Bride’s house —
with him departed the accordion player,
behind the bolted door of the Bride,
between one and seven.
The snatches of talk had quieted down.
but the sun rose blood red in the middle of the bed —
he wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep.
The accordion began to weep,
the accordion-player lay spread out on his instrument —
hearing the palms clapping, the shuffle of the shining serfs.
The feast’s whole flourish jingled like silver in his hand,
again again again again,
the song of the broken accordion.
Rustling through the bed and the sleeper,
the noise, whistling and the cheering,
swam a white peahen.
She moved her hips,
and strutted out in the street,
this beautiful bird...
She shook her hair, she ruffled her breast feathers;
suddenly the noise of the game
is the stamping of a whole procession.
She dropped into the hole of the sun.
The sleepy courtyard grows businesslike,
horses stand up by the wooden well,
teamsters shout down the laughter of the feast.
A band of pigeons
blasts from the sky’s blue bowl,
as if it were following the wedding party,
as if life were only an instant, of course,
the dissolution of ourselves into others,
like a wedding party approaching the window.
Пересе́кши край двора,
Гости на гулянку
В дом невесты до утра
Перешли с тальянкой.
За хозяйскими дверьми
В войлочной обивке
Стихли с часу до семи
Болтовни обрывки.
А зарёю, в самый сон,
Только спать и спать бы,
Вновь запел аккордеон,
Уходя со свадьбы.
И рассыпал гармонист
Снова на баяне
Плеск ладоней, блеск монист,
Шум и гам гулянья.
И опять, опять, опять
Говорок частушки
Прямо к спящим на кровать
Ворвался́ с пирушки.
А одна, как снег бела,
В шуме, свисте, гаме
Снова павой поплыла,
Поводя боками.
Помавая головой
И рукою правой,
В плясовой по мостовой,
Павой, павой, павой.
Вдруг задор и шум игры,
Топот хоровода,
Провалясь в тартарары,
Канули, как в воду.
Просыпался шумный двор.
Деловое эхо
Вмешивалось в разговор
И раскаты смеха.
В необъятность неба, ввысь
Вихрем сизых пятен
Стаей голуби неслись,
Снявшись с голубятен.
Точно их за свадьбой вслед,
Спохватясь спросонья,
С пожеланьем многих лет
Выслали в погоню.
Жизнь ведь тоже только миг,
Только растворенье
Нас самих во всех других
Как бы им в даренье.
Только свадьба, вглубь око́н
Рвущаяся снизу,
Только песня, только сон,
Только голубь сизый.
«Just wait for me and I'll return. / But wait, oh, wait with all your might... / Wait when your heart is saddened by / The pouring rains, the sallow light. / Wait when the wind heaps up the snow, / Wait when the air is dry and hot. / Wait when the rest no longer wait / For those whom th...»
«Black bread and a faithful wife / Have made us anemic, undone us for life... Our years have been tested by hoof and by stone, / The waters we drink of with wormwood are strewn, / The taste of the wormwood is stinging our lips... / The knife does not fit the grip of our fists, / The pen do...»
«The sign says hospital — a blue haze wraps it now. / The veterinary goes over a cow. The hand painted with manganese / Feels first the udders, then the strong butt of / The tail, and soon the cow / Beneath the bull will stretch and howl with love. / They clear the nuptial circle with t...»
«Fire, the rope, the bullet and the ax, / Like servants bowed and followed where we went, / And in each drop that fell a deluge slept, / Pebbles grew into mountains where they lay, / And in a small twig trodden underfoot / Whole forests rustled, their black arms outspread. At table falseho...»