to Valentina Serova
In a dream, I saw a wedding
And I think the bride was you.
You the bride and I a beggar
At the porch — it may be true!
Let it happen as I dreamed it!
Only promise, as you stand
At the porch, to have the kindness —
Put no alms into my hand!
До утра перед разлукой
Свадьба снилась мне твоя.
Паперть. Сон, должно быть, в руку:
Ты — невеста. Нищий — я.
Пусть случится всё, как снилось,
Только в жизни обещай —
Выходя, мне, сделай милость,
Милостыни не давай.
«What is the meaning of seventh heaven? / Is it a circle deep into the heights? / Like the gallery in a theater, / An outer limit for enthusiasts? Even amoebas have their own heaven, / Replete with a throng of amoebic saints, / They have their heroes, and Cleopatras, / Zealous for love a...»
«I seek for rhythmic whisperings / Where noises bandy — / For life I listen wistfully / In footless banter. I cast wide nets and tentative / In lakes of sorrow. / I go toward final tenderness / By pathways sordid. I look for dewdrops glistering / In falsehood's gardens. / I save t...»
«I crave for the roses and garden my best, / That’s clad in the best in the word airy fence. Where statues remember me youthful and blessed, / And I – them all covered by Neva’s cold waves. In silence, so fragrant, amidst limes of kings, / I hear: the ship's masts are squeaking in swing...»
«"And Michal the daughter of Saul loved David, / And Saul said: I will give her to him, and she will be a snare." / Book of Kings And the young lad plays for the mad king, / And he smites the pitilessness of night, / And he loudly hails the triumph of dawn, / And he stifles dread phantoms ...»