L. A. T.
ON THE GROUND
"Hid in the corner, you look so stubborn,
We wait for long. Say, you agree?"
"Ah, I don't know. Leave me, mother!
Leave me. It's all the same to me!"
IN THE GROUND
"Is not the breath of a tired chest heavy?
In tight grave it's always dark, you see?"
"Ah, I don't know. Leave me, people!
Leave me! It's all the same to me!"
OVER THE GROUND
"Did I love passionately with my heart, too?
Evil — did it so anger thee?"
"O my good God, I agree completely!
I'm tired. It's all the same to me!"
Л. А. Т.1
НА ЗЕМЛЕ
— «Забилась в угол, глядишь упрямо…
Скажи, согласна? Мы ждём давно».
— «Ах, я не знаю. Оставьте, мама!
Оставьте, мама. Мне всё равно!»
В ЗЕМЛЕ
— «Не тяжки ль вздохи усталой груди?
В могиле тесной всегда ль темно?»
— «Ах, я не знаю. Оставьте, люди!
Оставьте, люди! Мне всё равно!»
НАД ЗЕМЛЁЙ
— «Добро любила ль, всем сердцем, страстно?
Зло — возмущало ль тебя оно?»
— «О Боже правый, со всем согласна!
Я так устала. Мне всё равно!»
____
To Lidiya Alexandrovna Tamburer (1879-1940)
«A cardboard box of sugared orange — / My little garret. / No need to trudge through dingy lodgings / To the mortuary! I moved again into this room — / From superstition. / The paper on the walls is brown, / The door is singing. I h...»
«They bring a bouquet of thistles / And put it on the table. / Before me, a fire, a turmoil. / The purple dance of flames. / These sharp-pointed stars, / These splashes of northern lights. / Tambourines thunder and moan. / Lanterns burst from inside. / This too is a way of making worl...»
«In broad-brimmed hats, wearing long coats, / With notebooks full of your poems, / You have scattered long since into dust / Like branches of dry lilac. You are in the country without ready-made shapes, / Where all is disjointed, mixed up, broken, / Where instead of the sky there is o...»
«Time’s river in its rushing course / carries away all human things, / drowns in oblivion’s abyss / peoples and kingdoms and their kings. And if the trumpet or the lyre / should rescue something, small or great, / eternity will gulp it down / and it will share the common fate.»