The smokey blotches of the neighbours’ windows,
and windswept roses bending, drawing breath —
if I could think that life is but a dream,
that we cannot help waking after death.
To wait in heaven — heaven is so blue —
to wait in that cool bliss without a care.
And then, never to part with you.
With you for ever. Do you see? For ever...
Дымные пятна соседних окон,
Розы под ветром вздыхают и гнутся.
Если б поверить, что жизнь — это сон,
Что после смерти нельзя не проснуться.
Будет в раю — рай совсем голубой —
Ждать так прохладно, блаженно-безпечно.
И никогда не расстаться с тобой!
Вечно с тобой. Понимаешь ли? Вечно...
«The air is whipped by the frequent rain-drops; / The ice is grey and mangy. Ahead / You look for the skyline to awaken / And start; you wait for the drone to spread. As always, with overcoat unbuttoned. / With muffler about his chest undone. / He pursues before him the unsleeping / Sill...»
«Unforgettable September is strewn about Spasskoye, / Is to-day not time to leave the cottage here? / Beyond the fence Echo has shouted with the herdsman. / And in the woods has made the axe’s stroke ring clear. Last night outside the park the chilling marshes shivered. / The moment the su...»
«Stars raced headlong. Seaward headlands lathered. / Salt spray blinded. Eyes dried up their tears. / Darkness filled the bedrooms. Thoughts raced headlong. / To Sahara Sphinx turned patient ears. Candles guttered. Blood, it seemed, was frozen / In the huge Colossus. Lips at play / Swelled...»
«That year! How often “Out you fall!” / That old year's whisper at my window said. / The new year makes an end of all / And brings a Dickens Christmas tale instead. He murmurs: “Shake yourself, forget.” / Mercury rises with the sun outside, / Just as the old year strychnine set / ...»