She sat and sorted letters on the floor
Glancing through this mass of letters.
And like cold ashes glowing no more
Took them up and threw away.
At the pages which she knew by heart
She stared with no detachment,
As might the spirits gaze from above
On the bodies they have abandoned.
O what a story of life was here,
All spent and gone with no returning!
O what moments of despair,
Of love and slaughtered exaltation!..
Without a word I stood apart
And would have knelt in compassion
Such a sadness overwhelmed my heart
At seeing the final devastation.
Она сидела на полу
И груду писем разбирала,
И, как остывшую золу,
Брала их в руки и бросала.
Брала знакомые листы
И чудно так на них глядела,
Как души смотрят с высоты
На ими брошенное тело…
О, сколько жизни было тут,
Невозвратимо пережитой!
О, сколько горестных минут,
Любви и радости убитой!..
Стоял я молча в стороне
И пасть готов был на колени, —
И страшно грустно стало мне,
Как от присущей милой тени.
«Snow, snow the whole world over, / Sweeping it, end to end. / The candle burned on the table, / the candle burned. Like a crowd of summer midges / flying to the flame, / droves of snowflakes swarmed / against the window pane. Snow-blasts moulded circles, / arrows on the glass. / Th...»
«Snowed far and wide about the plane. / Snow clouded, whirling. / A candle's burning on the table. / A candle's burning. The flakes were messing outside / By window's framing / As if they were a swarm of flies / Allured by a flame glint. The snow was shaping whorls and blades / Upon g...»
«A blizzard blew and reached its crest, / Was everywhere. / A candle flared on the desk, / A candle flared. Like midges in the summer dash / To reach the fire, / White little flakes flew to the sash / In swarms and gyres. And on the glass the blizzard pressed / Its rimy hair. / A ca...»
«The smoke of tobacco ate away the air. / This room is but a chapter in Dante's inferno. / Remember, here's the window where / I first stroked your hands with ecstatic yearning. / Now you sit here, your heart clad in armor. / Another day — you'd scold me and throw me out, I believe. / B...»