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.
«Deep blue dusk and moonlight. Once / I was handsome, I was young. Headlong, now or never — how fast / All flew ... flew away ... flew past. Chill my heart is, pale my sight... / Deep blue happiness! Moonlit night!»
«Scattered shrubs. Vast steppe horizons. / Moonlight spreading everywhere. / Sudden sob of sleigh bell sighing, / Jingling in the chill night air. Road we love, not much to boast of, / But to which we’re born and bred. / Down it many a time has boldly / Many a man of Russia sped. Hail...»
«Flowers bid goodbye to me, / Bowing their heads ever lower, / A sign that her face and my homeland / I am never more to see. Be it so, my love! God bless! / You and earth my sight delighted. / I accept like a caress / This death-tremor and this silence. And because I fully grasp / Li...»
«On such a night the senses reel. / I cannot sleep. The moon how splendid! / A youthfulness at heart I feel / Though well I know my youth has ended. Companion of years grown chill, / Do not describe as love our toying, / But rather let the moonlight fill / The room here, every shade dest...»