Nikolay Zabolotsky
Flight to Egypt

Guardian angel was watching,
In my room where fire glowed.
He kept eye over the lodging,
Where, in ailment, I abode.

Driven frail by the sickness,
From my fellows far away,
I would dream, and in sequence
Before me the visions lay.

I could see myself headed
From my birthplace as a tot,
In a cradle, thinly padded,
To a distant country brought.

Being settlers of Judea,
Trembling before Herod's horde,
In a little house here
We found shelter and accord.

Donkey grazed by the olea.
I found frolic in the sand.
Happy Joseph and Maria
Cared about what's at hand.

Often I would doze idly
In the shadow of the sphinx,
And the Nile's lens, brightly,
Mirrored the celestial blinks.

And inside I could hear it,
In the rainbow ablaze,
Playing panpipes to me were spirit-
Angel-children in the haze.

But when came the idea
To return from our retreat,
And before us lay Judea
Spreading sights under our feet-

Its intolerance and hatred,
Poverty and slaves' fright,
Where, above the slums, waited
Shadow of the crucified -

Suddenly I woke up, screaming...
By the bed light I could see,
Your angelic gaze was beaming,
Flowing gently towards me.

Translated by Dmitry Yampolsky