...No grass ever grows
Making baskets for us
Is their lives’ sole purpose —
Making baskets from the straw,
Weightless basket service.
On the moon, twilight looms
Houses are neater
On the moon, no homes,
Only pigeon quarters
Bluish homes — bluish homes —
Wondrous pigeon quarters...
…На луне не растёт
Ни одной былинки;
На луне весь народ
Делает корзинки —
Из соломы плетёт
Легкие корзинки.
На луне — полутьма
И дома опрятней;
На луне не дома —
Просто голубятни;
Голубые дома —
Чудо-голубятни.
«The barren slope of the meandering valley / Is overgrown with hoary, wiry grass. / Spurge shows up white. Eroded beds of clay / Reveal the sparkling lead and shale and mica. The water-worn and slaty walls sprout capers; / A crevice clasps the olive’s withered trunk; / Above the hill, th...»
«A sacred wood was here. The messenger of gods / Would let his winged foot fall lightly on these glades. / The onetime site of cities kept no trace of their ruin. / In flocks, sheep creep along the bronze inclines. The slopes are woodless. In the green twilight, the mountains / Form a jagged...»
«The stoop of oaks lifts up the chrome of clouds. / Cliffs harbour alcoves, niches, grottos deep. / And rain and wind and heat have left their traces / Into these stones engraved. A sketch is grooved Onto the slope, crayoned by lichen, framed by moss, / And walls of rock rise up as icon-case...»
«Full-blossomed, blue-grey and milky, the day froze still; / The sea, grown pallid, sobs as it kisses the sand; / The wings of the mist / Shed splashes of brine... Humility envelops the heart. Quiet... / Thoughts die away. In the orchard, the olive / Stretches her boughs to the blind sky /...»