In northern capital a dusty poplar’s planted,
Translucent clock-face is ensnared by dappled green,
And in its shade gleams house or battleship enchanted
From far away, the kin of sky and water’s sheen.
A breezy barque, its mast of touch-me-not is slender,
It stands in line along with Peter’s royal heirs,
It shows that demi-god does not make beauty tender,
For its design is caught in simple craftsman’s stares.
On earth we’re governed by four elemental forces,
But fifth is free creation of the human heart.
Does it not mock hegemony of space’s courses,
This ark so chastely crafted by its maker’s art?
Enraged, Medusas clutch with spiteful glare’s contentions,
The rusty anchor rots like an abandoned plough —
Behold, she casts aside the bonds of three dimensions
And all the oceans of the world are opened now!
В столице северной томится пыльный тополь,
Запутался в листве прозрачный циферблат,
И в тёмной зелени фрегат или акрополь
Сияет и́здали — воде и небу брат.
Ладья воздушная и мачта-недотрога,
Служа линейкою преемникам Петра,
Он учит: красота — не прихоть полубога,
А хищный глазомер простого столяра.
Нам четырёх стихий приязненно господство,
Но создал пятую свободный человек:
Не отрицает ли пространства превосходство
Сей целомудренно построенный ковчег?
Сердито лепятся капризные Медузы,
Как плуги брошены, ржавеют якоря —
И вот разорваны трёх измерений узы
И открываются всемирные моря.
«now we place gold in your mouth, and we place poppy and honey in your hands. Salve aeternum. / — Krasinski A gold coin in the mouth; hands full of poppy and honey: / these are the final gifts of your earthly businesses. And don’t let them incinerate me like a Roman: — / I want to tast...»
«1. / He had six fingers, my father. Across the stretch of canvas, / Bruni tutored the soft trail of his brush. / Where the Academy sphinxes have stared each other out, he would / dash in a summer jacket across the frozen Neva. / He returned to Lithuania, the cheerf...»
«My master — he disliked me from the start. / He never knew me, never saw or heard me, / but all the same he feared me like the plague / and hated me with all his dreary heart. / When I bowed my head before him, / it seemed to him I hid a smile. / When he made me cry, he thought / my ...»
«June would be clammy, January crisp; / and concrete solid, sand unstable. / For there was order. Real order. People got up and went to work. / And then they watched The Happy FeIlas / at cinemas. For there was order. In pedigrees and in parades, / political police, and apparatus, / eve...»