From the archangel height of the seat
To do evangelic deeds.
River burns, dark for miles far hence.
O distance! Distance! Distance!
In piercing straightness of the lashes of the eye
With a firestorm onto the birds to fly.
The hooves! The wings! Bound up tight!
O height! Height! Height!
To open eyes like jaw! Like gear
Beyond clouds to disappear!
And not to come to wits — to fall and die:
O desire! Desire! Desire!
С архангельской высоты седла
Евангельские творить дела.
Река сгорает, верста смугла.
— О даль! Даль! Даль!
В пронзающей прямизне ресниц
Пожарищем налетать на птиц.
Копыта! Крылья! Сплелись! Свились!
О высь! Высь! Высь!
В заоблачье исчезать как снасть!
Двуочие разевать как пасть!
И не опомнившись — мёртвым пасть:
О страсть! — Страсть! — Страсть!
«He has a photo of himself / next to a girlfriend, friend and neighbor; / at leisure and in tireless labor; / holding a flute, a ball, a saber; / himself — raising glass of wine; / himself — receiving a diploma; / himself — in front of roofs and walls, / at gates of Sodom and Go...»
«So what if I'd gone through it all? / It's been a while. I don't recall. / I can't recall dates any more, / nor the locations of attacks. (I am one atom of that war, / a nameless private. I came back. / I am one shot's mistaken trace, / I'm bloody ice of January. / I am imprisoned ...»
«And all that's needed is to look, that's all it takes: / To look indeed, and be a little more attentive, / And you will stay, becoming instantly a captive / Of these two eyes, their unanticipated depth. / And all that's needed is to read, that's all it takes: / To read indeed, and over eve...»
«Taken cruelly from me, snatched out, / Crying desperately for me nightly, / Childlike shoulders in a plain black gown, — / Best of treasures, unreturned by the Almighty, I implore you by the past, the present — / Do not follow me with deer-like eyes, please, / Sleep in peace, don’...»