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.
«You'll surely come. So why wait anymore? / I'm waiting for you. I am through. / My light is out. My doors are open for / The simple wonder that is you. / So take whatever guise might strike your fancy: / Blast chemical weapons through my room, / Come quiet as the nightstick of a gangster...»
«But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. / Genesis 19:26 The righteous man then trailed Jehovah's guide, / Hulking and bright, across a ridge of black, / But in his wife a keening anguish cried: / “It's not too late for you. You can look back upon your S...»
«There are three periods of memory. / The first of them is like a yesterday, / The soul basks in the blessings of their vault, / The body takes its glory in their shade. / Laughter has not yet passed away, tears gush, / The blot is not yet bleached out of the desk, / The kiss, like a hear...»
«Today, as I see, you're especially wistful, my love. / Your hands are especially slim / while embracing your knees. / O, listen! In far away, far away lands, / by lake Chad / there wanders a gorgeous giraffe. His skin in embroidered with a fairy miraculous weave. / Who'd dare to come an...»