Marina Tsvetaeva
Stepan Razin. 2. Over Volga — night...

2

Over Volga — night,
Over Volga — sleep...
Ornate rugs they have laid down,
And on them the chieftain has laid
With a Persian princess — black brows.

One can't see the stars, one can't hear the waves,
Oars and darkness extreme, this is all!
And the shuttle bears away into the chieftain's
Night sinful Persian soul.

And such a speech
Did the night hear:
Don't you want, at last,
To lie nearer?
Out of all our women
You're the pearl!
Am I this scary
I'm your all-time slave,
Persian girl!
My prisoner!

= = =

And she knitted the brows,
The long brows.
And she eyes cast down
Eyes Persian.
And from her lips
Only one sigh rings:
Djal-Eddin.

* * *

And over Volga — a ruddy dawn,
And over Volga — heaven.
And the drunk crowd roars:
Get up, chieftain!

With a Muslim dog you did lie!
See the tears in the beauty's eyes!

And she — like death,
Bit her mouth in blood.
Thus goes a chieftain's brow so hard.

This our bed, you dog, you did not want,
So make do with our baptismal font!

It's dark in the day,
In the sky it is clear.
Red is the shoe
In the ship's rear.

And like menacing oak stands Stepan,
And to very lips pales Stepan.
Ah, so tiring — it shakes, rocks!
Hold up, heathens — in the eyes it's dark!

Here to you is the Persian girl,
The prisoner girl.

Translated by Ilya Shambat