An honest man
should look others straight in the eye.
We don’t know why.
What if the honest man
has watery, bloodshot eyes?
What if the dishonest one
has terrific eyesight?
Somehow, those who served as safe-keepers
in every time and place
learned to judge truthfulness
by firmness of gaze.
Did the spies who protected,
say, Sulla really have the right
to sort dishonest from honest?
And was Tamerlane’s secret service,
for instance, really
made up of moralists?
Everyone who sees has the right
to run their eyes madly up and down
and be judged not by their gaze,
not by scent or sound,
but by word and deed.
Честный человек
должен прямо смотреть в глаза.
Почему — неизвестно.
Может быть, у честного человека
заболели глаза и слезятся?
Может быть, нечестный
обладает прекрасным зрением?
Почему-то в карательных службах
стольких эпох и народов
приучают правдивость и честность
проверять по твердости взгляда.
Неужели охранка,
скажем, Суллы имела право
разбирать нечестных и честных?
Неужели контрразведка,
например, Тамерлана
состояла из моралистов?
Каждый зрячий имеет право
суетливо бегать глазами
и оцениваться не по взгляду,
не по обонянью и слуху,
а по слову и делу.
«A gold cloud rested the whole night / Upon the breast of a huge rock; / And cheerfully at dawn it dashed / Into the blue not to come back Wet traces in the crevices / Of ancient stone like tears remained; / And deep in thought alone it stands / And weeps into the distant void.»
«Whoever you might be, my neighbor sad, / I love you as my young years’ dear comrade, / A friend by accident or fate; / Though circumstance’s craft and treachery, / You are sequestered from my company / By wall and secret separate. When the first ruddy streaks ...»
«Since the timeless tribunal / Gave me a prophet’s sight, / The eyes of people reveal / Signs of hate and deceit. So I proclaimed the truth / Of innocence of love I’d learned: / Whoever held my trust and faith / Cast stones like I was mad. I covered myself with ashes, / Like a beg...»
«Just in front of my window / Stands a birch-tree white / All covered with snow / Glimmering silver bright. The snow on its branches / Sparkles all around / Pretty tassels dangling. / Silence. Not a sound. And the birch-tree slumbers / Standing all alone. / And the snow glimmers / ...»