Am I dreaming, or really and truly
It was I, who in bed so unruly,
Laughed so loud for the first time one night
Not aware I was only a mite?
The days were too brief in duration,
And the longest seemed always too short —
My plans would be doomed to frustration,
Games unfinished and fights left unfought.
And I still go to bed under pressure,
In the calm of the night find no pleasure.
And in sleep I still see my worst foe
Just as three score and ten years ago.
Неужели я тот же самый,
Что, в постель не ложась упрямо,
Слышал первый свой громкий смех
И не знал, что я меньше всех.
И всегда-то мне дня было мало,
Даже в самые долгие дни,
Для всего, что меня занимало, —
Дружбы, драки, игры, беготни.
Да и нынче борюсь я с дремотой,
И ложусь до сих пор с неохотой,
И покою ночному не рад,
Как две трети столетья назад.
«I’ll be there and weariness will vanish. / The cold of early morning will please. / There are villages, mysterious and dark — / Storehouses of immortal labour. My calm and trusting love / Of that place will never be vanquished. / There’s a drop of Novgorod blood / In me — a sli...»
«The evening light is broad and yellow, / Tender, the April chill. / You are many years late, / Yet I’m glad you are here. Sit down now, close to me, / And look with joyful eyes: / Here it is, the blue notebook — / Filled with my childhood poems. Forgive me that I lived in sorrow, /...»
«We thought we were beggars, we thought we had nothing at all / But then when we started to lose one thing after another, / Each day became / A memorial day — / And then we made songs / Of great divine generosity / And of our former riches.»
«So many stones have been thrown at me / That I don't fear them any longer / The trap an elegant tower has become, / Among tall towers, the taller. / I'm grateful to their builders — so be gone / Their sadness and their worry, go away, / Early from here I can see the dawn / And here...»