Innokenty Annensky
And the shadows roam

And the shadows roam, and the shadows implore:
        “Let us in, let us in!”
From these moonlight silverings
        Where is there to go?

The green phantom of the lilac bush
        Clung to the window...
Go away, shadows, leave her, shadows,
        Alone with me!..

She is motionless, she is silent,
        With traces of tears.
With two sprays of May’s lilacs
        In the coils of her plaits...

But I am faithful also to inaudible reproaches,
        And as in delirium,
I descend after her by the steps
        To the garden’s gravel...

O pale phantom, quickly tell me
        My faults,
While the panes of the gallery
        Are still black.

The flowers will droop, the flowers deceive,
        But I, I am yours!..
It is cold in the mist, in the mist there are wounds
        Before the dawns...

Translated by R. H. Morrison