I see the heavens, dull and stony
Above the waters’ sluggish web.
And Erebus, soul’s hateful crony,
Enfolds me in his tedious ebb.
I comprehend this dread appalling,
And there’s a link I understand:
Not crumbling, still the sky is falling,
Not foaming, still sea strikes the strand.
Oh, pale chimeras’ shadows hover
Upon the rough sand’s glimmer-gold,
And, oh, the grey sail’s trefoil’s cover
Is cross-nailed, like my yearning’s hold!
Я вижу каменное небо
Над тусклой паутиной вод.
В тисках постылого Эреба
Душа томительно живет.
Я понимаю этот ужас
И постигаю эту связь:
И небо падает, не рушась,
И море плещет, не пенясь.
О, крылья, бледные химеры
На грубом золоте песка,
И паруса трилистник серый,
Распятый, как моя тоска!
«“Misty morning, gray morning ..." / — TURGENEV Morning. Good luck! Among the houses! / Little bells are tinkling. / You press your silver rings / Coldly against my lips, / And I, how many times, successively, kiss / Your rings and not your hand... / In your thrown-back shoulder / ...»
«I want to live, live to distraction: / To make the present live forever, / Make the impersonal human cover / With flesh whatever now has none! What if life’s torpor stifles me, / What if I suffocate and am dumb — / A happier young man maybe / Will say of me in the years to come: Fo...»
«What, are you grown dull now and perplexed? / Look at me as you used to. / See What in abasement you’ve become, / In the sharp incorruptible light of day! I am myself not what I was — no longer / Distant, proud, and pure and wicked. / I look upon the simple boring earthly round / Wi...»
«At first she turned the whole thing to a joke, / Then understood, and started to reproach me. / Shaking her lovely head from side to side / She started wiping tears away with her handkerchief. And teasing me with her teeth she laughed, / Unexpectedly forgetting the whole thing. / As sudde...»