A stark barren fact that all logic opposes,
Bare truth that oppresses my soul:
Atrid lies dead on a bed of red roses,
So how can I live, how my grief to condole?
All that we dreamt of, always and ever,
Longings and yearnings and fears,
All was made flesh in his purest endeavors,
His eyes where sereneness inhered.
Puissant like wind were his muscles of might,
Lissome with grace were his legs at knees’ bend,
He was as lovely as clouds at first light,
The leader of gold-laden Argos: Godsend.
And I, what am I? A shred from old lesions,
A javelin lost in the greenness of lawn,
The shepherd lies dead, the chieftain of legions,
While I, a mere nothing, breathe on.
The depths of lake waters are calling my name,
Rebuke gleams in sheen of each dawn,
Leaden, like rocks in my soul, is the shame,
Losing one’s king, to live on!
Смутную душу мою тяготит
Странный и страшный вопрос:
Можно ли жить, если умер Атрид,
Умер на ложе из роз?
Все, что нам снилось всегда и везде,
Наше желанье и страх,
Все отражалось, как в чистой воде,
В этих спокойных очах.
В мышцах жила несказанная мощь,
Нега — в изгибе колен,
Был он прекрасен, как облако, — вождь
Золотоносных Микен.
Что я? Обломок старинных обид
Дротик, упавший в траву.
Умер водитель народов, Атрид, —
Я же, ничтожный, живу.
Манит прозрачность глубоких озер,
Смотрит с укором заря.
Тягостен, тягостен этот позор —
Жить, потерявши царя!
«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’...»