What customs these are, what an age!
All lazily drag their burden,
Thinking of no one else.
Bored with their sleepy gatherings,
With everyday diversions,
With their affected gaiety
We, entrenched in our humble desires,
Seek half-tints,
Hating dark and light.
No illusion of happiness beckons us.
Nor visions of celebration and power;
In our dreams, there’s no such sight.
All has irretrievably vanished.
Where are those, then, who
Once shimmered with a golden aura?
Those, who strove toward the cherished goal,
Who shrank not from torture,
Nor groaned under the knout?
Where are those, ignorant of sorrows,
Who dissipated the years
In a wild, bacchanalian flash?
Where are you, people? — Gone, gone!
Everything’s irretrievably passed,
Everything’s extinguished without a trace.
And to the hypocrite’s delight,
Life crawls along in a gray fog,
Deaf and dumb.
Faith sleeps. Knowledge is silent.
And over us boredom reigns,
The mother of shame and sin.
Что за нравы, что за время!
Все лениво тащат бремя,
Не мечтая об ином.
Скучно в их собраньях сонных,
В их забавах обыденных,
В их веселье напускном.
Мы, застыв в желаньях скромных,
Ищем красок полутемных,
Ненавидя мрак и свет.
Нас не манит призрак счастья,
Торжества и самовластья,
В наших снах видений нет.
Всё исчезло без возврата.
Где сиявшие когда-то
В ореоле золотом?
Те, что шли к заветной цели,
Что на пытке не бледнели,
Не стонали под кнутом?
Где не знавшие печалей,
В диком блеске вакханалий
Прожигавшие года?
Где вы, люди? Мимо, мимо!
Всё ушло невозвратимо,
Всё угасло без следа.
И на радость лицемерам
Жизнь ползет в тумане сером,
Безответна и глуха.
Вера спит. Молчит наука.
И царит над нами скука,
Мать порока и греха.
«Rock and rock me, starry boat! / My head is weary of breaking waves! For too long I’ve lost my moorings, — / My head is weary of thinking: Of hymns — of laurels — of heroes — of hydras, — / My head is weary of pretensions! Lay me out among grasses and pine-needles, — / My he...»
«How this matter came to an end / Neither love nor friendship can say. / With every passing day you reply less directly, / With every passing day you disappear more deeply. Until, you’re undisturbed by anything now, / — Only the tree riffles its branches — / As if you’ve fallen int...»
«Early yet — to no longer be! / Early yet — to no longer burn! / Tenderness! A brutal lash / Of Underworld encounters. However deep your inclination — / The sky — is a fathomless vat! / O, for such a love it’s / Early yet — to not feel wounded! Life is alive with jealousy! /...»
«I’ll be late to our fixed / Appointment. Having stopped spring / In time, into the bargain — I’ll be grey. / You’ve fixated too much on this! I’ll walk for years — and never falter / In my Ophelia’s taste for bitter rue! / I’ll walk through hills — and hayricks, / I’...»