Up out of an evil clinging pool
I grew, whispering like a reed,
Breathing the forbidden life
Passionately, languidly and tenderly.
And I bend over back into the cold refuge of the swamp,
Marked by no-one,
Met by the welcoming rustle
Of the brief autumnal moments.
I'm happy with this cruel affront
And in this dream-like life
I envy every other secretly
And am secretly in love with each.
Из омута злого и вязкого
Я вырос, тростинкой шурша, —
И страстно, и томно, и ласково
Запретною жизнью дыша.
И никну, никем не замеченный,
В холодный и топкий приют,
Приветственным шелестом встреченный
Коротких осенних минут.
Я счастлив жестокой обидою,
И в жизни, похожей на сон,
Я каждому тайно завидую
И в каждого тайно влюблён.
«A maiden’s song in the choir was telling / Of all who in far-off countries fret, / Of all ships that sail upon waters swelling, / Of all who their happiness forget. So sang her voice, in the great dome soaring; / On her pale white shoulders the gleam was bright, / And everyone in the di...»
«There a king once went in dancing / Jagged diadem crowned. Jester went in winged cloak, prancing / With his bells around, Dames with pages and long trains / In the roses’ shade, Knight-at-arms, whose gloomy chains / On his steel limbs played. Ah, for thy proud bearing, knight, / A lo...»
«When rowan leaves are dank and rusting / And rowan berries red as blood, / When in my palm the hangman’s thrusting / The final nail with bony thud, When, over the foul flooding river, / Upon the wet grey height, I toss / Before my land’s grim looks, and shiver / As I swing here upo...»
«Dead roses and dying / I carry alone; / In frost, with snow flying, / I’ve far to be gone. / The same pathway treading, / Sword shouldered, he goes; / He follows, and, spreading, / His cloak of mist flows. / He goes, and remembers / That snow I must tread, / That there the last...»