A lone white sail for an instant
Appears in haze of azure foam,
What does it seek in lands so distant?
What did it leave behind at home?
The wind is whistling, the mast
Bends, screeching in resentment...
It seeks no happiness, — alas —
Nor is it fleeing from contentment!
An azure stream runs by the sail,
A ray of light shines to appease...
And yet, this rebel seeks the gale,
As if in gales there is peace!
Белеет парус одинокой
В тумане моря голубом!..
Что ищет он в стране далекой?
Что кинул он в краю родном?..
Играют волны — ветер свищет,
И мачта гнется и скрыпит...
Увы! он счастия не ищет,
И не от счастия бежит!
Под ним струя светлей лазури,
Над ним луч солнца золотой...
А он, мятежный, просит бури,
Как будто в бурях есть покой!
«This winter night I travel out, / This winter night, I cannot sleep: / From corners, shelves, from all about, / Across and through its heavy shroud, / The rosy-colored twilight seeps. Having flipped the silver goblets / Over in the drowsy air, / The lilies pour me fragrant droplets / ...»
«Among the worlds, and in the stellar light / One Star repeatedly I call by name... / And not because She is the one I loved, / But just because the others slake my flame. And if the burden of my doubt is hard / From Her I seek an answer, unimpeded, / Not for the light She's casting as a S...»
«Scorched by the fire of the sky’s unmoving body, / The pick-ax stops clanging out its accursed lesson. / And nailed onto the earth, the piled autumnal haystacks / Of sleeping working-men are black as any downpour. The last decision of some dark and savage forces, / A vertical ray’s call...»
«The all-dressed-up in gold, consumptive-looking gardens — / Where their slow sickness wears magenta-rich veneers. / The late glow of the sun lingering in its brief arches / Having no power to take the shape of fragrant fruit. Also the coarse footprints, the yellow silk of carpets. / The c...»