Helix stairs. Put away the fear.
Light of mind... the boundless unlocks.
Shadows of saints are shining here,
Flap of feathers, screeches of white flocks.
Far below, in temples, the undying
Litany; the earthly sighs' repeat.
I am treading an arête of diamond,
Spires of cathedrals sting my feet.
Under, grapes of luminaries blazing,
Dust of globes and stars' unreeling gloss.
You are the eternal spirit's brazen
Nails of execution on the cross.
Rip apart, the curtain of the temple,
Firmament of azure, free my breath!
Here are the chains for you to trample —
Wave the torch of life, fiery Death!
Вьются ввысь прозрачные ступени,
Дух горит… и дали без границ.
Здесь святых сияющие тени,
Шелест крыл и крики белых птиц.
А внизу, глубоко — в древнем храме
Вздох земли подъемлет лития.
Я иду алмазными путями,
Жгут ступни соборов острия.
Под ногой сияющие грозди —
Пыль миров и пламя белых звезд.
Вы, миры, — вы огненные гвозди,
Вечный дух распявшие на крест.
Разорвись, завеса в тёмном храме,
Разомкнись, лазоревая твердь!
Вот она, как ангел, над мирами,
Факел жизни — огненная Смерть!
«‘I have lost a delicate cameo / By the Neva’s bank, I don’t know where. / I’m grieving for my lovely Roman girl’ — / Almost in tears you came and said to me. But why, beautiful Georgian, / Disturb the dust of godlike tombs? / Another downy snowflake now / Has melted on your ...»
«Let us proclaim, brothers, the twilight of freedom, / The great twilight year. / Into the seething waters of night / An enormous forest of snares has been lowered. / You are rising on years of suffocation / O sun, judge, people. Let us proclaim the fateful burden / Which the people’s ...»
«You cannot breathe, the ground with maggots seethes, / And not a single star can speak; / But — God can see — there’s music up above us: / The station trembles with Aonian song, / And ripped in shreds with locomotive whistles / The screeching air resolves again. The enormous park ...»
«I have come back to my city, familiar to the point of tears, / To the blood in my veins, to my childhood’s swollen tonsils. / You have come back here — so swallow up quickly / The cod-liver-oil of the Leningrad river-lamps: Quickly make up your mind to the short December day / When the ...»