The witch’s mask was glittering,
Her crutch rapped in its measured
Way... My New Year fairy tale.
Are you not my last fairy tale?
Lips were not praying for happiness,
The repose was filled with shadows.
And the lilies’ open goblets
Exhaled an unearthly anguish.
And soothing the dimmed glances, the
Flowers were speaking with anguish: “We are
Those same ones that we were, always those;
We shall be, we are eternal — and you?”
Be silent! Is it not better to dream
When the coals are hardly smoldering?
The January sun is not fierce.
Its crystals are so glowing...
Светилась колдуньина маска,
Постукивал мерно костыль…
Моя новогодняя сказка,
Последняя сказка, не ты ль?
О счастье уста не молили,
Тенями был полон покой,
И чаши открывшихся лилий
Дышали нездешней тоской.
И, взоры померкшие нежа,
С тоской говорили цветы:
«Мы те же, что были, всё те же,
Мы будем, мы вечны… а ты?»
Молчите… Иль грезить не лучше,
Когда чуть дымятся угли?..
Январское солнце не жгуче,
Так пылки его хрустали…
«I asked the money changer today, / Who gives a half fog for a ruble, / How should I say to the beautiful Lala / The tender Persian 'I love you'? I asked the money changer today / How lighter than wind, quieter than the joyous stream, / Should I say to the beautiful Lala / The tender wor...»
«Shagane, you are my Shagane! / Maybe because I'm from the North, / I'm ready to tell you everything, / About the waving rye under the moon, / My Shagane, Shagane. Maybe because I'm from the North, / That the moon is a hundred times bigger there, / No matter how she could be beautiful, /...»
«You said that Sa'adi / Kissed only on the breasts. / Wait for God sake, / I'll learn one day! You sang 'Behind the Yefrat / The roses are better than mortal girls'. / If I were rich, / I would make another tune. I'd cut these roses, / For there is only one joy for me — / That the...»
«I've never been to the Bosphorus, / You don't ask me about it. / In your eyes I saw the sea, / Flaming with blue fire. I didn't go to Baghdad with the caravan, / I didn't take silk and henna. / Bend with your beautiful body, / Let me rest on my knees. Or is it again so, that no matter ...»