She comes out on the stage. The dance does not
Spring up immediately. The mademoiselle
First makes a detailed walk like a gazelle
And then falls down, pulling up to her neck
The angle of her knee. Then — like a shot —
She arcs a semi-circle, a release
Which moves like one depicted by Matisse —
Collapsing in an absolute abstraction
Where there’s
no face
no legs
no arms
but action:
Only splashes of fire. And then a pause.
She’s stopped! She seems to tremble and to whine
As her caught public storms her with applause.
One character screamed out with special verve:
‘How beautiful! What shoulders! What divine
Arms, thighs! And like a fairy’s — every curve!’
And I, a son of Russia, thought: — horrible!
What is immodest can’t be beautiful.
Она выходит на эстраду. Танец
Возник не сразу. Mademoiselle
Сперва прошлась подробно, как газель,
Вдруг падает и тут на шею тянет
Угольник своего колена. Вдруг
Она описывает полукруг,
Как бы изображенная Матиссом,
И рушится в сплошной супрематизм,
Где нет уж
ни лица,
ни ног,
ни рук,
А только брызги пламенности. Вдруг
Остановилась. Ноет и трепещет.
А публика ей бурно рукоплещет.
Особенно визжал какой-то тип:
— Как хороша! Какие руки, плечи!
А бедра? Феерический изгиб!
А я подумал, сын своей России:
«Нескромные не могут быть красивы»
«A bird who wants to go higher / flies into the blue. / A lady who wants to go higher / wears a high-heeled shoe. / When I don't have any shoes / I go to the market and buy some. / Someone who's missing a nose / can go get a false one. / When a nation discovers it has no soul, / it ...»
«I see right through you, Numbers. / I see you dressed in animals, their skins, / coolly propped against uprooted oaks. / You offer us a gift: unity between the snaky movement / of the backbone of the universe and Libra dancing / overhead. You help us to see centuries as a flash / of laug...»
«I don't need much! / A crust of bread, / a cup of milk, / the sky above / and these clouds!»
«The sticky sky smells blue-gray, it's the odor of udder. / Show me some loving, be good to me! / I am bleeding. You are my fatality. / I am nailed up to die on an old empty tree.»