My sweet black midget gave me many pleasures
And was so good in worshipping my feet,
I trusted him my gold and other treasures
To keep them in my gilded chest so neat.
But day has come, and he began to grow
And grew so big that broke my lady nest.
I kissed his feet, but all I heard was "No!"
He walked away and took with him my chest.
Мой черный карлик целовал мне ножки,
Он был всегда так ловок и так мил!..
Мои браслетки, кольца, серьги, брошки
Он убирал и в сундучке хранил.
Но в черный день печали и тревоги
Мой карлик вдруг поднялся и подрос...
Вотще ему я целовала ноги —
И сам ушел, и сундучок унес!
«In the brightness of autumn evenings / here is a touching, mysterious charm: / an ominous glitter, motley trees, / a light, languorous rustle of scarlet leaves, / a hazy, quiet blueness / across the sadly orphaned world / and, presaging gathering storms, / at times a gusty snap ...»
«We live, not sensing our own country beneath us, / ten steps away they evaporate, our speeches, but where enough meet for half-conversation, / the Kremlin mountain man’s our occupation. They’re like slimy worms, his fat fingers, / his words, as solid as weights of measure. In his cockro...»
«We live, not feeling the earth beneath us / At ten paces our words evaporate. / But when there’s the will to crack open our mouths / our words orbit the Kremlin mountain man. / Murderer, peasant killer. His fingers plump as grubs. / His words drop like lead weights. / His laughing coc...»
«Our lives no longer feel ground under them. / At ten paces you can’t hear our words. But whenever there’s a snatch of talk / it turns to the Kremlin mountaineer, the ten thick worms his fingers, / his words like measures of weight, the huge laughing cockroaches on his top lip, / the g...»