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.
«The sultry sun heats to the seventh sweat. / The ravine rages in the frenzy, senseless. / As though a cowgirl working in the stead, — / The spring is busy, and its chores are endless. Out in the light, the snow-banks slowly slump, / Their bloodless, twig-like veins turn paler still. / ...»
«Oh my dear maple, frozen stiff and bare, / Why do you stand bending in the blizzard there? / / Have you seen a vision? Have you heard a babble? / Just like you are out for an idle ramble. / / Like a tipsy warden, walking on the roadside, / You have stuck in snowdrift, hit by burnin...»
«There’s still the twilight of the night. / The world’s so young in its proceeding, / That there are countless stars outside / And each one, like the day, is bright / And if the Earth could so decide, / She’d sleep through Easter in delight, / Hearing the Psalter reading. There’s...»
«Deep in Siberia's mines, let naught / Subdue your proud and patient spirit. / Your crushing toil and lofty thought / Shall not be wasted — do not fear it. Misfortune's sister, hope sublime, / From sombre dungeon pain will banish; / Joy will awake and sorrow vanish... / 'Twill come, th...»