Unexpectedly and brightly,
moist across the blueness of the sky,
an airy arc has been erected.
Triumphant, it will soon pass by.
One arm has plunged into the forest.
Beyond the clouds the other sweeps.
Half the sky it has encompassed.
It's reached its highest point and sleeps.
This iridescent vision
is pure delight for human eyes.
It's given us for just a moment,
so catch it. In your grasp it lies!
Look again. It's paling.
One second more its colours glow.
It's gone. It's vanished just as surely
as what you breathe and live by goes.
Как неожиданно и ярко,
На влажной неба синеве,
Воздушная воздвиглась арка
В своем минутном торжестве!
Один конец в леса вонзила,
Другим за облака ушла —
Она полнеба обхватила
И в высоте изнемогла.
О, в этом радужном виденье
Какая нега для очей!
Оно дано нам на мгновенье,
Лови его — лови скорей!
Смотри — оно уж побледнело,
Еще минута, две — и что ж?
Ушло, как то уйдет всецело,
Чем ты и дышишь и живешь.
«A collapsed door in the deaf wall, / And the heaps of overturned stones, / And piled upon them scrap metal, / And the depths that unfurl below. / And white ashes fanned by the wind — / That's all: God's voice, "The dead will rise".»
«The poet teaches something, though / Not with the wisdom of his words, / A thing considerably more likely to / Either turn people off or to bore. Whether sweet or bitter, you will have / To test by tasting it on your own. Life; / We all have our own unkind fates: / He teaches us to kee...»
«Today I can see that your gaze is especially sad; / Your hands are especially slender, encircling your knees. / But listen to this: far away, far away, near Lake Chad / A giraffe paces elegantly. A figure of grace and a lifetime of bliss are his boon, / And a magical pattern adorns his magn...»
«Today I can see that your look is especially sad / And your arms are especially fragile, as if made of chaff. / Listen, my dear: far away, by the shores of Lake Chad, / Roams the exquisite giraffe. It was granted the gift of proportion, voluptuous grace, / And its skin is adorned with a pat...»