Storms circle round the village,
And through anguished rain,
Flashes of lightning shatter
The sky once again.
It pours as from a flask,
And above assembled birches
A feast of electricity and rain
In fury and chaos merges.
But we walk along the road
Among the bushes and the grass,
With tridents, like Greek gods,
Held skyward in our grasp.
Вокруг села бродили грозы,
И часто, полные тоски,
Удары молнии сквозь слезы
Ломали небо на куски.
Хлестало, словно из баклаги,
И над собранием берез
Пир электричества и влаги
Сливался в яростный хаос.
А мы шагали по дороге
Среди кустарников и трав,
Как древнегреческие боги,
Трезубцы в облако подняв.
«Wake as you will, but wake in me, — / in the cold, in the voiceless depths of me. I will not beg for words, but give / me a sign that you are still alive. Not for long — just a moment of your time. / If not a verse, just a sigh, just a cry. Just a whisper or just a moan. / Just t...»
«But I keep remembering one of them, / that first spring of the blockade… / / How many rusty beds and bunks / littered the streets those days! / They hunched down among the ruins / senselessly trying to screen them. / Their sombre, bony dance twirled / everywhere the ground was bei...»
«When I set out my mother gave me / a little ikon depicting Silence. / Dumbly desperate now, for long / it has had no work beseeching god. / / And the blessed angel of Silence / watched over me jealously. / Twice – and it was no accident – / he turned me from the path. He knew…...»
«I still believe that I shall return to life, / shall wake early one day, at dawn, / in the light, early hours, in the transparent dew, / where the branches are studded with drops, / and a small lake stands in the sundew’s bowl, / reflecting the swift flight of the clouds. / And, inclin...»