Others — with eyes or with face full of light,
And I converse with wind in the night.
Not with that Italian
Zephyr oh-so-young —
Russian, blow-through,
A good one, a wide one!
Others with all flesh are lost in the flesh,
From dried out lips swallow the breath...
And I - arms wide open — like tetanus — stall
So that the Russian wind blow out my soul!
Others — o tangles tender and strong!
No, Aeolus is doing us wrong.
Perhaps you won't melt! It's just one family
As if I am not a woman truly.
Другие — с очами и с личиком светлым,
А я-то ночами беседую с ветром.
Не с тем — италийским
Зефиром младым, —
С хорошим, с широким,
Российским, сквозным!
Другие всей плотью по плоти плутают,
Из уст пересохших — дыханье глотают…
А я — руки настежь! — застыла — столбняк!
Чтоб выдул мне душу — российский сквозняк!
Другие — о, нежные, цепкие путы!
Нет, с нами Эол обращается круто.
— Небось, не растаешь! Одна — мол — семья! —
Как будто и вправду — не женщина я!
«I do not like the empty vocabulary / Of love, its shabby phrases — “You’re mine,” “Yours,” / “I love you,” or “I’m yours forever.” / I do not like slavery. With a free glance / I look into a lovely woman’s eye, / And say, “Tonight, yes. But tomorrow / Is a new a...»
«A blizzard sweeps the streets, / Coiling and staggering. / Someone gives me a hand, / Someone smiles at me, Leads me until I see a deep, / Enclosed by somber granite, / And this deep flows and sings, / And calls like an accursed spirit. I draw near, I withdraw, / I stand stock-still,...»
«Beyond the town a sterile quarter grew / On swampy and unsteady ground. / Here lived the poets — and each one met / The others with a supercilious smile. In vain upon this dismal swamp / The bright-eyed day arose: / The inmates devoted their time / Only to wine and heavy work. When d...»
«The winter day is cold and snowy, / White is the harbor, hard the ground. / A heavy liner, outward bound, / Is moving carefully and slowly. One yellow solitary lamp / Sways in the wind its ghostly halo, / The outlines of the crane and silo / Are blacker than the sky, and damp. Look how...»