Nikolay Gumilev
Don Juan (Rhyming)

This dream of mine is arrogant and plain:
To grasp the oar, to jump into the races,
To swindle sluggish time by switching faces,
Caressing lips that never are the same;

And in old age adopt Christ's legacy:
Debase my head and sprinkle it with ashes
And hold salvation's burden as it crushes
My heaving chest that twists in agony;

And only at the orgy's most chaotic
And boastful climax, I — a wan psychotic
Perturbed by worthless paths — regain my wit,

And recollect that, from my many lovers,
I never was a father, and admit
That I could never call a man a brother.

Translated by Robin Kallsen

(Nikolay Gumilev`s site)