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.
«Walker, you look like me, / Eyes cast down. / I once lowered them — too! / Passer-by, wait! Read — when you have gathered / A bouquet of poppies — / That I was called Marina / And how old I was. Do not think that this is — a grave, / That I will appear, scary... / I too w...»
«Veins filled with sun — not blood — / On my hand, brown so soon. / I am at one with my great love / To own my soul. I am waiting for a grasshopper, I count to a hundred, / Chewing a stalk's spine... / — Strange to feel so strongly and so simply / The fleetingness of life — and»
«I am defiantly wearing his ring / — Yes, in Eternity — as wife, not on paper. — / His overly narrow face — / Like a sword. His mute mouth, angles down, / Painfully gorgeous eyebrows. / In his face tragically merged / Two ancient blood lines. He is thin like first fragile branc...»
«1. The August day was slowly melting / Into the golden afternoon dust. / A few rattling trams, / And people passing. Absent-mindedly, as if without a goal, / I took a quiet lane. / And — I remember — the soft pealing / Of bells. I envision your pose / I decide everything on the...»