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.
«My breast was chilled through, oh so helpless, / But my steps were still very light. / I picked up the glove for the left hand / And put it by chance on the right. It seemed like the steps were so many, / But I knew there were only three! / Fall's whisper, with maple-trees blending, ...»
«Hail, Julian! / Vyach. Ivanov As they lay to rest this epoch, / Psalms and threnodies do not sound, / What is in store for it are only / Snatched up nettles and thistles, / And only the gravediggers show zeal / For their labor. Work to do! / And silently, O God, how silently, / Time...»
«And made war with the heavens. / Apocalypse With implacable hand, time is writing / Shakespeare’s twenty-fourth drama. / We who share the formidable feast / Would gladly read Hamlet, Caesar, Lear / As we cross over the leaden river; / Gladly accompany Juliet’s sweet bier, / Today,...»
«What does a woman alone know about mortal time? / O. Mandelstam Ever the best dressed of all, of all the rosiest and tallest, / Why do you rise up from the depth of murderous years? / And why does memory wave at me ravishingly / With your transparent profile from a carriage window? / How ...»