Be it fortune or misfortune
Trust the simple truth:
Never go back home in search of
our departed youth.
Cindered ruins have been cleared
And the place restored.
Yet, we won't discover there
What we are looking for.
Trips to yesteryear, oh brother,
I would forbid to all.
I am pleading: do not bother,
Don't stir up my soul.
For I will rush away from here —
And who will bring me back?
On my sled, back to that year —
Chasing old snow tracks.
I will find my way to where
In nineteen forty-five
Mom — so young! — is standing near
Father, still alive.
По несчастью или к счастью,
Истина проста:
Никогда не возвращайся
В прежние места.
Даже если пепелище
Выглядит вполне,
Не найти того, что ищем,
Ни тебе, ни мне.
Путешествие в обратно
Я бы запретил,
Я прошу тебя, как брата,
Душу не мути.
А не то рвану по следу —
Кто меня вернет? —
И на валенках уеду
В сорок пятый год.
В сорок пятом угадаю,
Там, где — боже мой! —
Будет мама молодая
И отец живой.
«In a world where everyone / Stoops and [produces] suds / I know —only one / Equal in strength to me. In a world where we / Seek so much, / I know — only one / Equal to me in might. In a world where everything is — / Mold and vines / I know: only one / You — equal in dep...»
«How can you live with another woman — / Simpler? — Pull at the oar! — / Head for the coast line / Soon your memory will have departeded of me, the floating island / (In the sky — not in the sea)! / Souls, Souls! — You'll be sisters, / Not lovers - you! How can you live wit...»
«Dis-stances: versts, miles... / They have dis-jointed us, dis-mantled, / So that we would be quiet, / At the world's farthest ends. Dis-stances: versts, spaces... / We, unstuck, unsoldered / With two arms spread, crucified, / They did not know, how that fuses Inspirations and sinews, /...»
«2. Our conscience — Is not your conscience! / Enough! — Be free! — Forget all, / Children, to write your own tale / Of your own days and passions . Here lies the salt of Lot — / In your family album! / Children! You have to settle yourselves / the many claims of Sodom's — ...»