Wake as you want, but wake in me from sleep —
In cold, and numb and bottomless a deep.
I do not dream to say a single word,
But give a sign that you are in this world.
Not for a long, but only for a flash.
If not in verse — in sighs or cries of flesh.
Only your sigh or moan of complaint,
Only your chains’ incomprehensive chant.
Очнись, как хочешь, но очнись во мне —
в холодной, онемевшей глубине.
Я не мечтаю — вымолить слова.
Но дай мне знак, что ты еще жива.
Я не прошу — надолго, хоть на миг.
Хотя б не стих, а только вздох и крик.
Хотя бы шепот только или стон.
Хотя б цепей твоих негромкий звон.
«And now summer has left / as if it never came at all. / It’s warm still where the sun falls. / But it’s not enough. Whatever I wanted to happen / fell right into my hands / like a five-fingered leaf. / But it’s not enough. The just and unjust / played their necessary part / a...»
«Now Summer is gone / And might never have been. / In the sunshine it’s warm, / But there has to be more. It all came to pass, / All fell into my hands / Like a five-petalled leaf, / But there has to be more. Nothing evil was lost, / Nothing good was in vain, / All ablaze with cle...»
«Before the war Valya walked along the creek, / Where a willow grew for who knows who. Though why it lay on the creek, no one knew / Valya owned that willow. Killed in action, Valya came back / Under his willow, in his military cloak. Valya's willow, / Valya's willow, / Like a white boat...»
«My sight, which was my power, now blurs / Two invisible diamond spears; / My hearing subsides, full of ancient thunder / And the breathing of the house of my father. / The knots of tough muscles slacken / Like grey oxen, lax in the ploughed field; / The wings behind my shoulders yield / ...»