Boiling up over the years,
A fury that drives on crazy,
Fury with the champions of freedom,
Fury with the adherents of the yoke,
Fury with the dregs and the toffs —
Different-colored specimens
Of the same «worldly wisdom»,
With the world and with my native land.
Fury? Indifference rather,
Toward life, eternity, fate.
Something catlike or birdlike
Which quite put out
The paragons of propriety,
Well-behaved A and B,
Seated on a chimney.
Накипевшая за годы
Злость, сводящая с ума,
Злость к поборникам свободы,
Злость к ревнителям ярма,
Злость к хамью и джентльменам —
Разномастным специменам
Той же «мудрости земной»,
К миру и стране родной.
Злость? Вернее, безразличье
К жизни, к вечности, к судьбе.
Нечто кошкино иль птичье,
Отчего не по себе
Верным рыцарям приличья,
Благонравным А и Б,
Что уселись на трубе.
«I mouthed to the rain to drizzle. / The dust had wrapped itself up. / I tied on my feet grass sandals, / And hooked on a walking crutch. And along this stretch of road / I rolled off into the distance, / Crossing my stick-like legs, / Having rescued my sadness.»
«I fell in love with you on amber day, / When new-born laziness was bleeding / In radiant gleam of azure ray / From every grateful branch proceeding. Your trunk grew white, as white as drunken daze / Of lake-land waters foaming. / And jolly Lel, with mocking plays, / Yo...»
«First to sharpen the ax-flint they bent, / On the green they had gathered, unpent, / They had gathered beneath the green tent. / There where whitens a pale tree-trunk, naked, / There where whitens a pale linden trunk. / By the linden tree, by the young linden, / By the linden tree, by th...»
«Upon an amber day I loved you first, / When, summoned by the radiant azure, / From every grateful twig there burst / Sweet indolence in dripping measure. Your whitely shining body gleamed as white / As heady foam on lakes unfolding, / Gay laughing Lei drew ou...»