Covered with a glory that had lost it luster,
Ringed by cretins, tricksters, hypocrites,
The two-headed eagle1 did not fall in battle
But died a horrible, degraded death.
Grinning, one man said: "He made it!"
Another sobbed: "Lord, forgive..."
But no one guessed it was a stuffed bird
They'd carried into exile, and the grave.
___
1. From the tsarist coat of arms.
Овеянный тускнеющею славой,
В кольце святош, кретинов и пройдох,
Не изнемог в бою Орел Двуглавый,
А жутко, унизительно издох.
Один сказал с усмешкою: «дождался!»
Другой заплакал: «Господи, прости…»
А чучела никто не догадался
В изгнанье, как в могилу, унести.
Я научился понемногу
Шагать со всеми — рядом, в ногу.
По пустякам не волноваться
И правилам повиноваться.
Встают — встаю. Садятся — сяду.
Стозначный помню номер свой.
Лояльно благодарен Аду
За звёздный кров над головой.
«Moscow, who are you? / Are you charming or charmed? / Are you forging freedom / Or chained? / What thought knits your brow? / With the world of conspire. / Perhaps you’re a window, giving light / Into another time, / Or an expert cat you’re: / Do sciences order to crucify, / ...»
«Once again, once again / I’m a star for / you. / Woe to the sailor who has taken / The wrong angle of the ship / On a star: / He will be shattered on the rocks, / On the underwater sandbanks. / Woe to you also who have taken / The heart’s wrong angle on me. / You will be shat...»
«The girls, those who pace / With boots of black eyes / Upon the flowers of my heart. / The girls who put javelins / Upon their eyelashes’ lakes. / The girls who wash their feet / In the lake of my words.»
«For me it’s much more pleasant / To look at the stars / Than to sing up a prisoner / To a death sentence. / For me it’s much more pleasant / To listen to the voices of flowers, / Whispering: "It’s he" / Bending their heads, / As I walk through the garden — / Than to see the...»