The street-cars at midnight
Are quiet in the street,
The law-abiding people
Are all fast asleep.
Midnight near the balcony
The branches is stirring,
Quiet is Arithmetic
And Algebra’s snoring.
Midnight has arisen
O’er the Soviet Union.
Side by side with angles,
Sleep the Hypotenuses.
Try counting the lot! God Almight
A whole family, I’ll bet...
Why are you not sleeping,
My snub-nosed little pet?
Does your high position
Deprive you of ease?
An engineer
Feels seldom at peace.
Please do have some sleep.
The Commissar of Transport
Is, no doubt,
Now resting in comfort.
I am also sleepless.
Behind the frail walling,
The engineer continues
With her girlish walking.
Then she mutters softly,
Dips pen into ink,
That’s why I probably
Cannot sleep a wink.
On a tower nearby
The hour is ringing.
Bashful damsels
Of boyfriends are dreaming.
Midnight has been weaving
A web of magic thread,
My comrade engineer,
Do try going to bed.
Behind the partitioning
The steps sound unceasing.
Then a fine soprano
Comes across quite pleasing
“Do go on sleeping,
I’ve nothing against it!”
She’s got self-possession,
There’s no gainsaying it...
Putting aside
Its heavy burden,
Resting meantime
Is the Soviet Union.
Above us the sunrise
Is lowering a trail
To where the pink cloudbank
Has hidden its tail.
Ночные трамваи
Уже не звенят,
Порядочные люди
Давно уже спят,
Ветку над балконом
Полночь шелохнула,
Спит Арифметика,
Алгебра уснула.
Полночь поднялась
Над Советским Союзом,
С катетами рядышком
Спят гипотенузы...
Сколько их здесь! Боже мой
Целая семья...
Что же вы не спите,
Курносая моя?
Может, вас пугает
Ответственный пост?
Сон инженера
Не легок и не прост!
Усните! Сейчас
В лежачем положении
Сам нарком
Путей сообщения!..
Мне не спится тоже...
За перегородкой
Инженер проносит
Девичью походку;
Бормотанье тихое,
Шелест страницы —
Может быть, от этого
Мне не спится...
На соседней башне
Пробило двенадцать,
Девушкам стыдливым
Влюбленные снятся,
Полночь протянула
Волшебные нити...
Товарищ инженер,
Пожалуйста, засните!
За перегородкой
Шаги неустанно...
Слышу инженера
Тонкое сопрано:
— Спите, пожалуйста, —
Я вам не мешаю ! —
Выдержка у девушки
Очень большая...
Скинув на время
Тяжелый груз,
Спит, отдыхает
Советский Союз,
И заря над крышами
Опускает мостик,
Где облако спрятало
Розовый хвостик.
«There are twins. For the earthborn / they are gods, Death and Sleep, / like brother and sister wondrously akin, / Death's the gloomier, Sleep is gentler. But there are two more twins: / there are no finer twins in the world, / and there's no fascination more fearsome / than he who's sur...»
«The telephone rang. / “Hello! Who’s there?” / “The Polar Bear.” / “What do you want?” / “I’m calling for the Elephant.” / “What does he want?” / “He wants a little Peanut brittle.” / “Peanut brittle!.. / And for whom?” “It’s for his little Elephan...»
«From the cycle LENIN I Lenin has the spirit of an Old Believer, / Intones his decrees like a priest, / And looks to the Pomorian Responses1 / For the source of all our grief. Now the land belongs to the peasants, / The Church is no longer a state serf. / Now a bright new word chimes for...»
«And while above Tsarskoye Selo1 / Akhmatova’s song and tears were pouring, / I, unwinding the skein of the sorceress, / Plodded through the desert like a sleepy corpse2, / There where impossibility lay dying: / An exhausted mummer Determined to break through. / And meanwhile in dark ca...»