At the gates of Zion, over Kedron,
There is a windswept hillock;
And where the wall gives temporary shade,
I happened to sit down beside a leper,
Who was eating toxic seeds.
His stench was indescribable.
The fool was poisoning himself.
But he would smile, for all that,
Looking blissfully around
And muttering: “Praise be to Allah!”
Merciful God, wherefore did you give us
Feelings, thoughts, and cares,
A thirst for action and amusement?
Happy are the cripples and the idiots,
And happiest of all — the leper!
У ворот Сиона, над Кедроном,
На бугре, ветрами обожжённом,
Там, где тень бывает от стены,
Сел я как-то рядом с прокажённым,
Евшим зерна спелой белены.
Он дышал невыразимым смрадом,
Он, безумный, отравлялся ядом,
А меж тем, с улыбкой на губах,
Поводил кругом блаженным взглядом,
Бормоча: «Благословен аллах!»
Боже милосердный, для чего ты
Дал нам страсти, думы и заботы,
Жажду дела, славы и утех?
Радостны калеки, идиоты,
Прокаженный радостнее всех.
«Just wait for me and I'll return. / But wait, oh, wait with all your might... / Wait when your heart is saddened by / The pouring rains, the sallow light. / Wait when the wind heaps up the snow, / Wait when the air is dry and hot. / Wait when the rest no longer wait / For those whom th...»
«Black bread and a faithful wife / Have made us anemic, undone us for life... Our years have been tested by hoof and by stone, / The waters we drink of with wormwood are strewn, / The taste of the wormwood is stinging our lips... / The knife does not fit the grip of our fists, / The pen do...»
«The sign says hospital — a blue haze wraps it now. / The veterinary goes over a cow. The hand painted with manganese / Feels first the udders, then the strong butt of / The tail, and soon the cow / Beneath the bull will stretch and howl with love. / They clear the nuptial circle with t...»
«Fire, the rope, the bullet and the ax, / Like servants bowed and followed where we went, / And in each drop that fell a deluge slept, / Pebbles grew into mountains where they lay, / And in a small twig trodden underfoot / Whole forests rustled, their black arms outspread. At table falseho...»