Resplendent in their biblical glory
Above the city float the flaming clouds;
The angel that tops Peter and Paul's fortress
Looks through them into centuries massed….
But my vision is clear and it’s uncertain
What lies beyond – what dreams, sunsets, cities
Will replace these – glowing gold, growing pale –
And what night will set for all of eternity!
Как древняя ликующая слава,
Плывут и пламенеют облака,
И ангел с крепости Петра и Павла
Глядит сквозь них — в грядущие века.
Но ясен взор — и неизвестно, что там
Какие сны, закаты, города —
На смену этим блеклым позолотам —
Какая ночь настанет навсегда!
«Through tannic steam I catch a glimpse of Fuji: / Against a yellow sky volcanic gold / A saucer narrows nature very strangely, / In shallow ripples lovely to behold. / The clouds, like little webs, like spider legs, / Are pierced by sun no bigger than a mote, / And bird-fish, ...»
«To fling slant links / into mirror / sphere space, — / maniacal parabolas, / jingling, curl up a / stubbled raceme. Tribal, zodiacal, / fields flame, / ether bubbles, / but all intersects / yield the still- / lettered scheme / of your name!»
«As girls dream of grooms, / You and I talk of art. / O secret flock of cranes! / Lithe lurch of living flights! Catherine is betrothed to Christ; / One soul throbs two hearts. / Wind whips cheeks of bloom, / Eyes go down in flames. Winged and tangled blurts, / "I love" not quite rest...»
«The sense of your bidding is unclear: / to pray, to curse, is it, to fight / you bid me, inscrutable genius? / The spring slackens, niggard, meager, / and Benozzo Gozzoli's courier / dozes in the drowsy thickets. Hills are dark with honeyed cloud. / Look: I do not touch lithe strings. /...»