The Lord has rewarded me
With a light-filled and iron heart.
With a gift of singing, a tearful gift.
The Lord has protected me
With a white flag.
The Lord has passed me by
With the carnal flame.
Hold higher the flag!
The Lord above us!
Heavier than stone —
The carnal flame!
Наградил меня Господь
Сердцем светлым и железным,
Даром певчим, даром слезным.
Оградил меня Господь
Белым знаменем.
Обошёл меня Господь
Плотским пламенем.
Выше — знамя!
Бог над нами!
Тяжче камня —
Плотский пламень!
«Say a few more words to me, / don’t sleep before the dawn. / I need you to feel close to me. / My journey’s almost done. May the last poem I have made / take on new life through your sweet lisp, / your quiet wrestle with sounds / you cannot get your tongue round.»
«I love a despairing peace: / chrysanthemum blossoms in fall, / lights adrift in a river of mist, / a sunset that has turned pale, / nameless graves, all the clichés / of a Symbolist "wordless romance" — / what Annensky loved with such greed / and Gumilyov couldn’t stand.»
«The souls of those I love are on high stars. / How good that there is no-one left to lose / And one can weep. Tsarskoye Selo’s / Air was made to repeat songs. By the river bank the silver willow / Touches the bright September waters. / Rising from the past, my shadow / Comes silently ...»
«My friends, can you descry that mound of earth / Above clear waters in the shade of trees? / You can just hear the babbling spring against the bank; / You can just feel a breeze that's wafting in the leaves; / A wreath and lyre hang upon the boughs... / Alas, my friends! This m...»