He was born painlessly, in bless,
But we are born in awful torments,
Yet, even heavens will be stressed,
When heard the song that now floats.
Not a sweet voice, but fierce cries
Will cut the womb, so dark and heavy:
The sightless embryo denies
His coffin-like ways for behavior.
The Bible’s eastern star did not
Jet into skies in dazzling flare –
But its bright image was absorbed
By a transmuted look, forever.
Wake up, blest spirits, and arise!
We’re the reserved and bare heathens...
Pulling their hats over their eyes,
They go – the unknown wizards.
Без мук Младенец был рожден,
А мы рождаемся в мученьях,
Но дрогнет вещий небосклон,
Узнав о новых песнопеньях.
Не сладкий глас, а ярый крик
Прорежет темную утробу:
Слепой зародыш не привык,
Что путь его подобен гробу.
И не восточная звезда
Взвилась кровавым метеором,
Но впечатлелась навсегда
Она преображенным взором.
Что дремлешь, ворожейный дух?
Мы потаенны, сиры, наги...
Надвинув на глаза треух,
Бредут невиданные маги.
«When from thine error, dark, degrading, / With words of fiery persuading, / I drew thy fallen spirit out; / And thou, thy hands in anguish wringing, / Didst curse, filled with a torment stinging, / The sin that compassed thee about; / When thou, thy conscience dilatory / Chastisin...»
«Yesterday at six / I stopped by Hay Square; / They were whipping a woman, / A young peasant, there. Not a sound from her breast, / Just the lash, playing, whistled... / And I said to my Muse: / "Look! It's your sister!"»
«What a night! How pure the air, / How silvery the slumbering leaf, / How black the shadow of the bankside willows, / How serenely the bay sleeps, / How still it is — nowhere a wave's sigh — / How full the breast is with silence! Midnight light, you're the same as day: / Except the ...»
«Like a bright sun a bonfire flares up in the forest, / And, contracting, the juniper creaks; / Like a crowded choir of drunken giants, / The fir-grove, reddened, sways. I forgot to think about the cold night, — / I was warmed to the very bone and heart; / My troubles wavered then vanish...»