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!
«Moscow is milling with watermelons. / Everything breathes a boundless freedom. / And it blows with unbridled fierceness / from the breathless melonvendors. Stalls. Din. Girls’ headscarves. / They laugh. Change bangs down. Knives and a choice sample slice. / — Take one, chief, for a l...»
«In these days of unheard-of suffering / One is lucky indeed to have no heart: / Crack-shots plug me again and again, / But have no luck. Riddled with holes, I laugh / At the furious pack: “Tally-ho, boys! / I am a lattice. Look through me. / Isn’t the landscape lovely?” But suppo...»
«Against the rest of the playground"s kids / She bears the resemblance of a froglet. / Worn-out shirt of hers is tucked in boxers, / Curls of her reddish hair are rid / Of comb, her mouth"s long, teeth aren"t well-ordered, / Her set of features is irregular and pointed. / The fathers of t...»
«Among the other playing children she / Seems to be a little awful frogling. / The pants tucked in her poor shirt you see, / The curly hair — tousled all and nodding, / The curve teeth and the mouth long on face, / The features're sharp and ugly to disgrace. The fathers recently have ...»