Samuil Marshak
Eternity knows neither kith nor kin...

Eternity knows neither kith nor kin.
The pangs of birth and death she's never known,
While Time, her younger sister, unlike her
Has countless sons and daughters of her own.

The centuries bring forth new life — and pass.
Each day, each year, each hour brings fruit untried;
While we the slightest span of Time still grasp,
Let's make her serve us e'er she flies from sight.

So let our Time be filled with merry song,
With toil and dance and flights o'er space and sea;
Though brief her span, or though it last for long,
Let her, with us, create — and in creation, BE.

Unseen, into the void, the fleeting minutes soar,
Give birth to glorious deeds and poems in their race.
And see — Eternity, who children never bore,
Enfolds her sister's sons in proud embrace.

Translated by Louis Zelikoff