All rules are incorrect,
all laws remain perverse,
until they’re firmly set
in well wrought lines of verse.
An age or era will
be merely a stretch of time
without a meaning until
it’s glorified in rhyme.
Until the poet’s «Yes!»,
entrusted by his pen
to print, award success
to this or that — till then
the jury will be out,
the verdict still in doubt.
Все правила — неправильны,
Законы — незаконны,
Пока в стихи не вправлены
И в ямбы — не закованы.
Период станет эрой.
Столетье — веком будет,
Когда его поэмой
Прославят и рассудят.
Пока на лист не ляжет
«Добро!» поэта,
Пока поэт не скажет,
Что он — за это,
До этих пор — не кончен спор.
«Cut veins: irrecoverably / Irreplaceably, life whips out. / Bring out basins and bowls! / Though the bowl’s — too low, / The basin’s — too shallow. Over the lip, watch it flow, / To black earth, to feed the reeds. / Irreplaceably, verse will go, / Irrevocably, irrecoverably.»
«A weight, on my brow / The laurel of praise. / "I can’t sing, anyhow," / "But you will." "The way, Sound (Transform me / To sawdust, at best!) / Like milk, you see is – / Gone from my breast. Dry and empty, / At spring’s height: / Feeling’s dead twig." / "– An ancient ...»
«Dis-tances: miles, versts... / We’re dis-severed, dis-persed, / They’ve rendered us silent, terse, / At the far ends of the earth. Distances: tracts, versts... / We’re disjointed, and disbursed, / Displayed, splayed, un-destroyed, / They don’t know we’re... an alloy Of ins...»
«You who loved me with falsity / Of truth — and the truth of lies, / You who loved me — beyond extremity / Of wherever! — Beyond the skies! You who loved me longer / Than Time. — Right hand: wave goodbye! / You love me no longer: / Truth in five words: no lie!»