The hot sultry summer
Comes dazzling by degrees.
The grass, scorched by the sun,
Is dressed in a moist vapor.
The burdock, yellowed by heat,
Unfolds its pink armour
And stands, choking with flies,
Beneath the tall windows of a hut.
In the bloom of nature
There's a brief moment of surfeit,
A time when the heads of plants
Let a pearl-white gum secrete.
Love's trappings have ebbed,
Passion has run dry, yet the past's flame
Dies in embers and wades in the blood,
Troubling not the body, but the brain.
But the flame fades towards midday,
And in the heaven's midst
Only nature, pausing,
Feels the patch of deadly heat.
Понемногу вступает в права
Ослепительно знойное лето.
Раскаленная солнцем трава
Испареньями влаги одета.
Пожелтевший от зноя лопух
Развернул розоватые латы
И стоит, задыхаясь от мух,
Под высокими окнами хаты.
Есть в расцвете природы моей
Кратковременный миг пресыщенья,
Час, когда перламутровый клей
Выделяют головки растенья.
Утомились орудья любви,
Страсть иссякла, но пламя былое
Дотлевает и бродит в крови,
Уж не тело, но ум беспокоя.
Но к полудню заснет и оно,
И в средине небесного свода
Лишь смертельного зноя пятно
Различит, замирая, природа.
«The Monkey at the mirror saw a Monkey there, / In front of him. He nudged his friend the Bear. / “Just look at that!" he said. “Now, / where On earth did he get such a mug? / How he does smirk and prance about! / If I looked anything at all like that big lout, / I'd hang myself for c...»
«A gray Wolf seized a Sheep / And dragged it off into the woods with him. / But he hadn’t brought this guest along to keep / Him company: he tore the poor lamb limb from limb, / And then most ravenously munched, / So that the sheep-bones crackled, snapped, and crunched. Since there was s...»
«A Peasant had a Sheep indicted / And brought to trial for a heinous crime. / The judge, a Fox, was not one to waste time. / He told both parties: “Now, without getting excited / And shouting at each other, tell the Court just what took place. / Include all evidence material to the case....»
«The Snake asked Zeus to take away his hiss. / And let him have a songbird’s voice instead. / “I’m miserable,” he moaned. “I can’t go on like this. / Wherever I rear up my head. / They shy away from me like sin; / Your smaller creatures do, at least; / And as for any bigger be...»