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!
«We are cultured: we clean our teeth, / Mouth, and both boots. / In letters, we are especially polite: / “Your most obedient servant.” So then, why do we end / Any kind of debate — / like weak fools — / Imitating Papuans / And beating each other on the snouts? / True, it is u...»
«From the diary of a contemporary At wit’s end, I went to the doctor. / He pushed a pince-nez down on his nose: / “Nerves. Anxiety. Too soon to tell... / “So, I’ll prescribe / Guniyadi Janos.” The blood pounded in my temples: / Guniyadi?! For questions, / For disbelief, for bo...»
«Immortality? For you two-legged moles, / Who aren’t worthy of even a day on earth? / Perhaps — after feeling deeply offended — / Lizards, toads, and worms will want the same... Petty bourgeois with wings! Gingerbread and cakes! / They gorged themselves for half a century and now they ...»
«A simian profile / With slits for eyes; / Dumpling lips and a potato nose: / Neither a girl nor a goat. Hair like a fishtail; / No bust, more like a frying pan; / And growing from the chin — / It’s terrible, I know — a beard. Choppy gestures, long feet, / Hands twisted backward...»