Rock and rock me, starry boat!
My head is weary of breaking waves!
For too long I’ve lost my moorings, —
My head is weary of thinking:
Of hymns — of laurels — of heroes — of hydras, —
My head is weary of pretensions!
Lay me out among grasses and pine-needles, —
My head is weary of wars...
Закачай меня, звёздный чёлн!
Голова устала от волн!
Слишком долго причалить тщусь, —
Голова устала от чувств:
Гимнов — лавров — героев — гидр, —
Голова устала от игр!
Положите меж трав и хвой, —
Голова устала от войн…
«By denying me the seas, the right to run and fly, / By holding my foot firm on the constraining earth, / What have you achieved? A splendid calculation, / But you couldn’t seize my muttering lips thereby.»
«What is the name of this street? / Mandelstam Street. / What the hell kind of name is that? / No matter how you turn it round, / It has a crooked sound, it isn’t straight. There wasn’t much about him straight, / His attitudes weren’t lily-white. / And that is why this street / O...»
«It’s with your laughing picture that I’m living now, / You whose wrists are so slender and crackle at the joints, / You who wring your hands yet are unwilling to go, / You whose guests stay for hours sharing sadness and joys. You who’ll run from the cards and Rakoczy bravura, / From t...»
«The night is now departing / It’s lifting its dark shrouds, / And pilot, voyage starting, / Is bound for heaven’s clouds. He’s swallowed in the vapour, / In jet plane disappeared, / A cross as marked by draper, / A blotch on linen sheared. Below in foreign places / Are gay noct...»