2
As I love to
kiss hands, and
to name everything, I
love to open
doors!
Wide — into the night!
Pressing my head
as I listen to some
heavy step grow softer
or the wind shaking
the sleepy and sleepless
woods.
Ah, night
small rivers of water rise
and bend towards — sleep.
(I am nearly sleeping.)
Somewhere in the night a
human being is drowning.
2
Руки люблю
Целовать, и люблю
Имена раздавать,
И ещё — раскрывать
Двери!
— Настежь — в тёмную ночь!
Голову сжав,
Слушать, как тяжкий шаг
Где-то легчает,
Как ветер качает
Сонный, бессонный
Лес.
Ах, ночь!
Где-то бегут ключи,
Ко сну — клонит.
Сплю почти.
Где-то в ночи
Человек тонет.
«A day of heat. The woods burning. Time / Hanging heavy. From a neighboring plot / A cock was crowing. I went through the gate. / There, on the bench, his back against the fence, / A wandering Serb, dark-skinned and lean, sat dozing. / A heavy silver crucifix hung down / Among the rolling...»
«The snow has drifted. Quietness descends. / Blind walls beside the alley here, and empty ground. / Here comes a man. To take the knife and stab him now! / — Without a sound he’ll lean against the fence, / Then slowly sink onto his knees, and lie face down. / The snowy breath that stirs...»
«I I had lots of fun today: / First the thief who pinched a pullet / From that hag across the way; / Then the horse — they tried to pull it — / Jumped and bolted like a bullet; / And the kite has flown away. But — the thief is no more free, / They have locked him in a cell; / Fo...»
«Twilight was turning to darkness outside. / Under the eaves a window banged wide. A curtain was lifted, a light briefly shone, / A swift shadow fell down the wall and was gone. Happy the man who falls head first to death: / At least for a moment his viewpoint is fresh.»