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.
«Like a jester complaining of the cruel weight / of his hump – let me tell about my orphaned state. Behind the devil there’s his horde, behind the thief there’s his band, / behind everyone there’s someone to understand and support him – the assurance of a living wall / of thousands ...»
«What did they do / with the relatives of Christ? / What did they do with them? / No written source / will tell you a damned thing — / nothing but crossings out, emptiness. / What the hell did they do with them? What did they do / with those simple people, / simple craftsmen, men w...»
«I have deserved the gratitude of Italy. / I have contributed to their history, / To people, art and culture, by and large: / I gave them snow. And plenty. Free of charge. Italians, captured on the River Don, / Were packed and convoyed in a cattle car / All starved and thirsty, barely hang...»
«When finally the war is won / Its gain is only for the winner. / But for the soldier's lonely widow / For nights on end, the war goes on. The winner meets his glory days; / The widow's dreary days are creeping — / Into her nights the cold is seeping / From one of countless nameless gr...»