«Did you love anything in this wide universe?»
«Weil, of course I did! Why do you make such a jest?»,
«What?» «O, wait, let me think! There were perfume and flowers,
Also mirrors... and... I have forgotten the rest.»
— В этом мире любила ли что-нибудь ты?..
— Ты должно быть смеешься! Конечно любила.
— Что? — Постой. Дай подумать! Духи, и цветы,
И еще зеркала… Остальное забыла.
«Like one betrothed I receive / A letter at each day’s end, / And late at night conceive / An answer for my friend. "On my journey to the dark, / I’m staying with white death. / Do no harm, my gentle one, / To anyone on earth." Brighter, a star is shining / Between that pair of tr...»
«Because somewhere there’s simplicity and light, / Transparent, warm and joyous… / There a neighbour talks with a girl at twilight, / Over the fence, and only the bees hear, / The most tender of murmurings. While we live with ceremony, difficulty, / Honouring the rites of our bitter me...»
«For O. A. Kuzmina-Karavaeva "If we can only reach the shore, / My dear!’ — ‘Silently…" / And so we slipped down the stair, / Not breathing, searching for keys. Past the place where we once / Danced, and drank the wine, / Past the Senate’s white columns, / To where it was dark...»
«I rarely think of you now, / Not captured by your fate, / But our insignificant meeting’s trace / Has not vanished from my soul. I purposely avoid your red house, / That red house on its muddy river, / But I know I bitterly disturb / Your sunlit heart at rest. Though you never bent t...»