My master — he disliked me from the start.
He never knew me, never saw or heard me,
but all the same he feared me like the plague
and hated me with all his dreary heart.
When I bowed my head before him,
it seemed to him I hid a smile.
When he made me cry, he thought
my tears were crocodile.
And all my life I worked my heart out for him,
each night I lay down late, and got up early.
I loved him and was wounded for his sake.
But nothing I could do would ever take.
I took his portrait everywhere I went,
I hung it up in every but and tent,
I looked and looked, and kept on looking,
and slowly, as the years went past,
his hatred hurt me less and less.
And nowadays it hardly seems to matter:
the age-old truth is men like me
are always hated by their master.
А мой хозяин не любил меня —
Не знал меня, не слышал и не видел,
А всё-таки боялся, как огня,
И сумрачно, угрюмо ненавидел.
Когда меня он плакать заставлял,
Ему казалось: я притворно плачу.
Когда пред ним я голову склонял,
Ему казалось: я усмешку прячу.
А я всю жизнь работал на него,
Ложился поздно, поднимался рано,
Любил его. И за него был ранен.
Но мне не помогало ничего.
А я возил с собой его портрет.
В землянке вешал и в палатке вешал —
Смотрел, смотрел, не уставал смотреть.
И с каждым годом мне всё реже, реже
Обидною казалась нелюбовь.
И ныне настроенья мне не губит
Тот явный факт, что испокон веков
Таких, как я, хозяева не любят.
«For you with aching hope I shall now wait, / And all this year I’ll wait for you – / Let you alone but sweetly set your bait / With promises for ever too. The silence of sad fate – you are it all. / A random light in dark of earth, / The untold mystery of debauchery’s fall / Tha...»
«A moment’s silver glinted flash – / A roach in river’s moment dreaded / Will weave his fables, silver-threaded. From hill bursts cart in reckless dash, / And through the air his song’s propelling, / And youthful joy in heart is swelling. And sadness. Itches homespun rash. / For s...»
«She came towards me, silent like the moonlit night, / With violet-hooded eyes, like inky night was gazing, / Where soft the gentle dewdrops grass-tipped quivered blazing, / She came towards me – perfectly arrayed, just right, / And soft, she breathed, as the insinuating night. The secret ...»
«I'll be yours if you want. Understand if you can / If I like anyone in this world, you're the one. / I'd been cold, pale and feeble before I met you. / Well, I come from the bottom, deep, quiet and blue. No, don't hurry. The moon will be shining for us. / There it is! Can you see it? New mo...»