From a strict and elegant temple
On the squealing of squares you alight.
Freedom! The beautiful lady
Of marquises and Russian knights.
A dreadful rehearsal is on now —
Still ahead is the mass!
O freedom! The partying woman
On the mad soldier's chest!
Из строгого, стройного храма
Ты вышла на визг площадей…
— Свобода! — Прекрасная Дама
Маркизов и русских князей.
Свершается страшная спевка, —
Обедня ещё впереди!
— Свобода! — Гулящая девка
На шалой солдатской груди!
«Don’t distort your smile, away with teasing hands — / For I love another — off with your demands. Tell the truth, you know it — know it very well — / My regard’s not yours — another’s cast her spell. Passer-by I was. My heart’s not really here — / Only loitered then th...»
«On distant place my dreams are set / Where all can hear the cries and sobbing, / To share in alien sorrow’s net / And anguished grieving’s painful throbbing. For there, I’m sure that I can find / Delight in life and exaltation, / And there, escaping fortune’s bind, / I’ll cast...»
«I’m tired of life in my own land, / The boredom of the fields’ expanses, / I’m going to quit my cabin and / Like tramp or thief I’ll take my chances. I’ll chase the cloudy trails of day / In search of mean accommodation — / With knife in bootleg as I stray / That pal has str...»
«The winter sings — aloud it yells, / The pine tree with its hundred bells / lulls shaggy forest and / around it all the rain-drenched clouds / Are sadly mounting in their crowds / To float to distant land. And in the yard a blizzard spreads / Its lovely silken carpet’s threads, / ...»