Inside a jar with painted flowers
A surly servant carries wine.
In skies above the darkness lowers,
The road is rough and no stars shine.
With straining eyes to guide his going.
He peers into the darkness dim.
Lest the wine flood and overflowing
Drip down and soak his breast for him.
I also bear a jar, and filled it
With sufferings of long ago;
I lulled and cunningly distilled it.
My poison of remembered woe.
By devious ways I travel bearing
My jar that brims with evil, lest
Someone should come with hands uncaring
And spill it down upon my breast.
В амфоре, ярко расцвечённой,
Угрюмый раб несет вино.
Неровен путь неосвещённый,
А в небесах уже темно, —
И напряжёнными глазами
Он зорко смотрит в полутьму,
Чтоб через край вино струями
Не пролилось на грудь ему.
Так я несу моих страданий
Давно наполненный фиал.
В нём лютый яд воспоминаний,
Таясь коварно, задремал.
Иду окольными путями
С сосудом зла, чтоб кто-нибудь
Неосторожными руками
Его не пролил мне на грудь.
«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...»
«To S. L. Kobilinsky The windows steamed up. / In the yard the moon hangs. / And you stand aimlessly / before the window. The wind dies down arguing / with the row of gray birches. / There has been much sorrow... / There have been many tears... Before you arises involuntarily / the ...»
«And water? A moment – clear... / A moment – circles, mottled, fish... / Just so thought! Here she is... / But she is – the depths, / Entered with trepidation.»
«Above the grass little moth – / A flower, self-propelled flower.... / Just so I: into wind – death – / above me – a stem – / I fly by as a moth.»