It’ll sneak up on me, so quiet —
Like the forest during the night.
I’ll bring you the dove, — I’ll hide it
In my apron and bring it inside.
I’ll stand in your doorway — inert!
Shame — like the weight of a stone.
But the apron’s too tight for a bird,
And the bird will fly on its own!
Она подкрадётся неслышно —
Как полночь в дремучем лесу.
Я знаю: в передничке пышном
Я голубя Вам принесу.
Так: встану в дверях — и ни с места!
Свинцовыми гирями — стыд.
Но птице в переднике — тесно,
И птица — сама полетит!
«Past one o’clock. You’re probably in bed / The Milky Way streams like the silver Oka / I won’t send wild telegrams. I don’t intend / to trouble you and vex you any longer / and now, as people say, our case is closed / the boat of love could not endure the grind / We’re even now...»
«In the realm of Threeteenseventy, / Commonwealth of Thriceleventy, / Lived the famous Tsar Dadon. / Fierce he was from boyhood on, / And when scarcely more than twenty / Wrought his neighbors wrongs aplenty. / Aging now, he changed in mind, / Would give up the warlike grind / For a l...»
«O, do the Russians long for war? / Ask of the stillness evermore, / Ask of the field, or ask the breeze, / And ask the birch and poplar trees. / / Ask of the soldiers who now lie / Beneath the birch trees and the sky, / And let their sons tell you once more / Whether the Russians...»
«Snow, snow, all the world over, / Snow to the world’s end swirling, / A candle was burning on the table, / A candle burning. As midges swarming in summer / Fly to the candle flame, / The snowflakes swarming outside / Flew at the window frame. The blizzard etched on the window / Fro...»