My dear Felissochka! My most exquisite!
I give you «Minstrel» and all my dreams.
You are beloved by all thats delicate,
My sweet Felissa — My violin!
May to the crude one you be an egotist —
I care not: You are most loved by me!
My most talented! My sweet Felissochka!
My one sought after! My destiny!
The hate of sin here is love of marriage:
You like it when I say «bride» to you.
Symbol of Hestia! Little Hestochka!
In you again I will find my youth!
(надпись на «Менестреле»)
Моя Фелиссочка! Моя красавица!
Тебе, Любимая, мой «Менестрель».
Всему изыскному должна ты нравиться,
Моя Фелиссочка — моя свирель!
Пускай для грубого ты только «выскочка», —
Что мне до зтого: ты мне люба!
Моя Таланточка! Моя Фелиссочка!
Моя Исканная! Моя Судьба!
Тебе лишь сладко мне сказать: «Невесточка», —
Здесь браконенависть — браколюбовь…
О, символ Эстии, ребенок-Эсточка,
С тобою молодость познал я вновь!
«It’s a hoax, with enchanting anguish, / That’s why life is strong, and full of gloom: / Often, with its rough hand, in harsh language, / Life sends notes, exclaiming, “You are doomed!” Every time I close my eyes, I’m saying: / “Only make my heart somewhat alert. / Life is fake...»
«Behind me you must go, behind me, / My slave obedient and true; / The sparkling mountain-ridges find me / In flight unfaltering with you. Above abysses I shall take you, / Bottomless pits of mystery; / And there, while futile terrors shake you, / Is inspiration’s strength for me. Ami...»
«In summer-heat or in wintertime glistening, / Days when you marry, or triumph, or die, / I would dispel deathly boredom by listening / For a soft peal yet unheard in the sky. There it approaches, and coldly I wait for it, / Wait to get hold of it, leave it for dead. / While my attention i...»
«We weep, how often, I and you, / Over our lives’ poor pitiful ways, — / But if, my friends, we only knew / The cold and gloom of coming days! To-day your darling’s hand you press, / You played with her and smiled; / You weep to find untruthfulness, / Or in your hands a knife cares...»