‘I have lost a delicate cameo
By the Neva’s bank, I don’t know where.
I’m grieving for my lovely Roman girl’ —
Almost in tears you came and said to me.
But why, beautiful Georgian,
Disturb the dust of godlike tombs?
Another downy snowflake now
Has melted on your lashes’ fan.
And then you bowed your gentle head:
Alas, the Roman girl, the cameo, has gone.
I grieve for Tinotina —
A Roman girl beside the Neva’s shore.
— Я потеряла нежную камею,
Не знаю где, на берегу Невы.
Я римлянку прелестную жалею,—
Чуть не в слезах мне говорили вы.
Но для чего, прекрасная грузинка,
Тревожить прах божественных гробниц?
Еще одна пушистая снежинка
Растаяла на веере ресниц.
И кроткую вы наклонили шею.
Камеи нет — нет римлянки, увы.
Я Тинотину смуглую жалею —
Девичий Рим на берегу Невы.
«Everybody chooses for himself / His religion, loyalties and women. / Service to a prophet, or a demon, / Everybody chooses for himself. Everybody chooses on his own / The word for loving and the word for praying, / A dueling foil, a sword for dragonslaying. / Everybody chooses on his ...»
«He has a photo of himself / next to a girlfriend, friend and neighbor; / at leisure and in tireless labor; / holding a flute, a ball, a saber; / himself — raising glass of wine; / himself — receiving a diploma; / himself — in front of roofs and walls, / at gates of Sodom and Go...»
«So what if I'd gone through it all? / It's been a while. I don't recall. / I can't recall dates any more, / nor the locations of attacks. (I am one atom of that war, / a nameless private. I came back. / I am one shot's mistaken trace, / I'm bloody ice of January. / I am imprisoned ...»
«And all that's needed is to look, that's all it takes: / To look indeed, and be a little more attentive, / And you will stay, becoming instantly a captive / Of these two eyes, their unanticipated depth. / And all that's needed is to read, that's all it takes: / To read indeed, and over eve...»