«At the gates of Zion, over Kedron, / There is a windswept hillock; / And where the wall gives temporary shade, / I happened to sit down beside a leper, / Who was eating toxic seeds. His stench was indescribable. / The fool was poisoning himself. / But he would smile, for all that, / L...»
«Endless downpour; misty wood; / Fir trees swaying: / “Oh, dear Lord!” — as if the wood were drunk, / Rain-sodden. At the window of the dark lodge / A child sits drumming with a spoon. / Mother sleeping soundly on the stove; / A calf lowing in the damp passage. / Gloomy lodge; bu...»
«Pallid young man with an ardent expression, / Listen, today I will give you three precepts. / Here is the first one: don’t live in the present, / Only the future is the sphere of the poet. Remember the second: have a feeling for no one, / Just for yourself nurture love which is boundless....»
«“Stonemason, stonemason, in your white apron, / What are you building? For whom?” / “Oh, don’t disturb us, for we’re busy working, / Building a prison — a tomb.” “Stonemason, stonemason, with your true trowel, / Who will be weeping inside?” / “Neither you nor your brot...»