Among the priests a young Levite
As morning sentinel for long remained
Judean night grew denser over him,
A ruined temple stood in bitter pain.
He spoke: The yellow of the sky is menace
Run, Jews, over Euphrates it is night.
And old men thought: We should not take the blame here.
This joy of Judea, this black and yellow light.
He was with us, as on the riveshore
We draped the Saturday in precious linen
And with a heavy menorah he lit
Jerusalem's night and vapour of nonbeing.
А .B. Карташеву
Среди священников левитом молодым
На страже утренней он долго оставался.
Ночь иудейская сгущалася над ним
И храм разрушенный угрюмо созидался.
Он говорил: небес тревожна желтизна.
Уж над Ефратом ночь, бегите, иереи!
А старцы думали: не наша в том вина;
Се черножелтый свет, се радость иудеи.
Он с нами был,когда по берегу ручья
Мы в драгоценный лен субботу пеленали
И семисвечником тяжелым освещали
Ерусалима ночь и чад небытия.
«I yearn to live in wild extremes, / Perpetuating things and places / And incarnating all that's faceless — / To carry out all broken dreams. And while life’s nightmare chokes, persisting, / And in my sleep I suffocate, / Perhaps the future, near or distant / Will bring a glad lad, w...»
«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, / The...»
«In my night-time fever / I see you, O / Winged Victory of Samothrace, / reaching out your arms. First night-silence runs / from you, then your blind / inexorable driving flight / brings giddiness, whirling sick. Your crazy-bright eyes / laugh, and blaze, / and our shadows run behin...»
«At my window pane / A somber birch tree / Is newly adorned / By the frost’s whimsy. It’s like bunches of grapes / That hang from branch tips — / And the mournful shapes / Are a joy to contemplate. I watch the daylight spread / To play along the branches; / But when birds alig...»