Marina Tsvetaeva
Girlfriend. 1. Are you happy? — You don’t say! Hardly at all!..

Are you happy? — You don’t say! Hardly at all!
Oh, so it’s better now? Sure, fine!
Too many, it seems, are those you kissed;
This is where my sadness comes from.

I see within you all the heroines
Of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
You, tragic young lady,
No one saved.

You are so tired of repeating loving
Pitter-patter!
A cast-iron bracelet on your bloodless hand —
It’s eloquent!

I love you. — I’m like a thunder cloud
Above you — a sin —
For the fact that you are cutting and burning
And best-looking of all,

For the fact that we, that our lives, are different
In the shadow of the roads,
For your inspired temptations
And dark fate,

For the fact that to you, my steep-foreheaded demon,
I say “forgive me,”
For the fact that even standing above your tomb
It’s impossible to save you!

For this trembling, for the fact that — am I
Really dreaming? —
For this ironic charm,
That you — are not a he.

Translated by Karina McCorkle