Wherever you are I can reach you
to summon up — or send you back again!
Yet I’m no sorceress. My eyes grew sharp
in the white book — of that far-off river Don.
From the height of my cedar I see a world
where court decisions float, and all lights wander.
Yet from here I can turn the whole sea upside down
to bring you from its depths — or send you under!
You can’t resist me, since I’m everywhere:
at daylight, underground, in breath and bread.
I’m always present. That is how I shall procure
your lips — as God will surely claim your soul —
in your last breath — and even in that choking hour
I’ll be there, at the great Archangel’s fence,
to put these bloodied lips up against the thorns
of Judgement — and to snatch you from your bier!
Give in! You must. This is no fairytale.
Give in! Any arrow will fall back on you.
Give in! Don’t you know no one escapes
the power of creatures reaching out with
breath alone? (That’s how I soar up
with my eyes shut and mica round my mouth...)
Careful, the prophetess tricked Samuel.
Perhaps I’ll hoodwink you. Return alone,
because another girl is with you. Now on Judgement Day
there’ll be no litigation. So till then
I’ll go on wandering.
And yet I’ll have your soul
as an alchemist knows how to win your
Lips ...
5
Не чернокнижница! В белой книге
Далей донских навострила взгляд!
Где бы ты ни был — тебя настигну,
Выстрадаю — и верну назад.
Ибо с гордыни своей, как с кедра,
Мир озираю: плывут суда,
Зарева рыщут… Морские недра
Выворочу — и верну со дна!
Перестрадай же меня! Я всюду:
Зори и руды я, хлеб и вздох,
Есмь я и буду я, и добуду
Губы — как душу добудет Бог:
Через дыхание — в час твой хриплый,
Через архангельского суда
Изгороди! — Все́ уста о шипья
Выкровяню и верну с одра!
Сдайся! Ведь это совсем не сказка!
— Сдайся! — Стрела, описавши круг…
— Сдайся! — Ещё ни один не спасся
От настигающего без рук:
Через дыхание… (Перси взмыли,
Веки не видят, вкруг уст — слюда…)
Как прозорливица — Самуила
Выморочу — и вернусь одна:
Ибо другая с тобой, и в судный
День не тягаются…
Вьюсь и длюсь.
Есмь я и буду я и добуду
Душу — как губы добудет уст —
Упокоительница…
«There'll be no one in the house / Save for twilight. All alone, / Winter's day seen in the space that's / Made by curtains left undrawn. Only flash-past of the wet white / Snowflake clusters, glimpsed and gone. / Only roofs and snows, and save for / Roofs and snow — no one at home. O...»
«In the house there will be no one / But the duskiness; alone, / Winter day will still be showing / Through the curtains left undrawn. Only snow lumps will be reeling / In a white and flashy spin, / Only roofs, and snow, and really / No one else that can be seen... Frost again will stre...»
«Out of the smoky air now are plucked down / Stars for the past week frozen in flight. / Head over heels reels the skaters' club, / Clinking its rink with the glass of the night. Slower, slower, skater, step slow-er, / Cutting the curve as you swerve by. / Every turn a constellation / Sc...»
«She came in out of the frost, / her cheeks glowing, / and filled my whole room / with the scent of fresh air / and perfume / and resonent chatter / that did away with my last chance / of getting anywhere in my work. Straightaway / she dropped a hefty art journal / onto the floor /...»