“Happiness — tarry; say whither you fly?”
“Into a loving heart.”
“Youth, to return — whither haste you and why?”
“Into a loving heart.”
“Courage and strength — tell me, whither and where?
“Into a loving heart.”
“And whither haste YOU, O sorrow and care?”
“Into a loving heart.”
— Радость, помедли, куда ты летишь?
— В сердце, которое любит!
— Юность, куда ты вернуться спешишь?
— В сердце, которое любит!
— Сила и смелость, куда вы, куда?
— В сердце, которое любит!
— А вы–то куда, печаль да беда?
— В сердце, которое любит!
Пер. Н. Гребнева
«I'm careless of the ode’s exalted sentence / And of the elegy’s delicious guile. / I say the verse should ill befit the senses, / Escape the common file. If you could know what gibberish empowers / The verse that grows, from all abashment freed, / Like dandelions’ yellow summer fl...»
«How is your life with that other one? / Simpler, is it? A stroke of the oars / and a long coastline — / and the memory of me is soon a drifting island / (not in the ocean — in the sky!) / Souls — you will be sisters — / sisters, not lovers. How is your life with an ordinary / ...»
«How is living with another? / Simpler? The thud of oars! — / Memories of me soon start to / Drift like wave-lines by the shores, I’m the island in the distance, / (Not on water! — in the sky!) / Souls! — You’re destined to be sisters / And not lovers in this life! How is li...»
«“I’m not leaving! — This isn’t the end!” And she clings and clings... / But in her breast — the swell / Of looming waters, / Of notes... Count on it: sealed as / A sacrament: we’re bound to leave each other!»