Nikolay Gumilev
Shame

May be, in my previous a-being,
I’ve cut the throats of my Mom and Dad,
If in this one — Lord of all the living! —
I have been doomed to suffering like that.

If I call for dogs of mine, aloud,
Or just try my own horse to see,
Not obeying all my signs and shouts,
They would promptly run away from me.

If I come to the enchanting foam
Of my native and well-known sea,
Then the sea would blacken from the woe
And fast go back, away from me.

My day looks like looks a man extinguished,
And my work — like somebody’s else strife, 
Mine — is only pine of undistinguished,
Non-platonic and unworthy love.

Let the deathly languor be in action,
I’ll not stop to wait the time, when
In my future version of creation,
I’ll become a gallant knight again.

Translated by Yevgeny Bonver