Life goes on, defying common sense.
Old men chatter in the southern sun:
“Moscow ballrooms… The weather in Simbirsk…
The War… Kerensky… We had freedom then…”
Before you know it — forty years in France,
a buzzing in the head, chill in the bones.
“Masonic plot… The Jews, all their infernal…
Ah, you were published? Where? Which journal?”
…In the dull sunshine there is peace and grace.
They wait and wait, but hope it won’t be long
before the old Cyrillic script regains its place,
before that age of gold re-dawns.
Жизнь продолжается рассудку вопреки.
На южном солнышке болтают старики:
— Московские балы… Симбирская погода…
Великая война… Керенская свобода…
И — скоро сорок лет у Франции в гостях.
Жужжанье в черепах и холодок в костях.
— Масонский заговор… Особенно евреи…
Печатались? А где? В каком Гиперборее?
…На мутном солнышке покой и благодать,
Они надеются, уже недолго ждать —
Воскреснет твердый знак, вернутся ять с фитою
И засияет жизнь эпохой золотою.
«The working day started at night. / Denunciations, papers, certificates. / Death sentences signed in a hurry. / Yawning, drinking of wine Vodka, all day, for the soldiers. / Come evening, by candlelight, / time to read out lists, herd / men and women into a dark yard, remove shoes, clo...»
«Scorching, as hot tar: / Unendurable a second time! / My brother, with so / Strange an admixture Of discord... (The sound / Of a torn branch comes here?) / My brother, suddenly setting / Like so many suns! My brother, with no other sisters: / Made entirely my own! / Up to your fune...»
«The hour of the soul 1 In the dark night of the soul, / Un-reckoned by any clock, / I gazed into the eyes of a boy, / Un-reckoned in the nights Of anyone yet, like two ponds / — Unclouded by memory and brimming — In repose... / At this point / Your li...»
«The hour of the soul 2 In the dark hour of the soul, / In the dark — of night... / (The gigantic footstep of the soul, / Of the soul at night) At that hour, soul, take control / Of those worlds, where you want / To rule — mansion of the soul, / Soul, of that, take control. Redden...»