Don't weep! Above the yellow steppe
Still hangs the same late summer heat
And they, with children on their backs,
Come still, with tired and stumbling feet.
No tears! And as the crowd goes by
From Stalingrad to God knows where,
Don't try to catch their downcast eyes —
You cannot look for pity there!
Go on — don't strive to meet their gaze!
They need no sympathy, no shame!
All that they need from you is this —
You must go there, from whence they came!
Не плачь! — Всё тот же поздный зной
Висит над желтыми степями.
Все так же беженцы толпой
Бредут; и дети за плечами..
Не плачь! Покуда мимо нас
Они идут из Сталинграда,
Идут, не подымая глаз, —
От этих глаз не жди пощады.
Иди, сочувствием своим
У них не вымогая взгляда.
Иди туда, навстречу им —
Вот все, что от тебя им надо.
«Rummage with your torches / All the moonlit night! / Charted are land’s porches — / But it’s lost from sight. Lapped up from the saucer — / Gleams the bottom glazed. / Can you go back ever / To the house they’ve razed? Second birth’s requirement, / Land renewed must lead....»
«My day is aimless and absurd: / For beggar’s bread my begging’s heard, / I give my pittance to the loaded, A beam, through needle’s eye I slip, / And with a key the thief I tip, / With daub of lime my pallor’s coated. The beggar doesn’t give me bread, / My proffered coin meets ...»
«I’m just a girl. My duty’s e’er / Before I wedding keep / To know that wolves are everywhere / And that I am a sheep. To dream of golden-castled glen / To swing and twirl and shake / At first a doll, and later then / The dollish thing I make. A sword in hand does not me suit, / ...»
«I know the truth! All former truths are swept away! / No longer now do people need to fight each other. / And see: the evening’s here; and see, night ends the day. / So what have you to say, O poet, general, lover? And now a wind blows up; the dew begins to seep, / And in the sky a starry...»