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.
Не знает вечность ни родства, ни племени,
Чужда ей боль рождений и смертей.
А у меньшóй сестры ее - у времени -
Бесчисленное множество детей.
Столетья разрешаются от бремени.
Плоды приносят год, и день, и час.
Пока в руках у нас частица времени,
Пускай оно работает для нас!
Пусть мерит нам стихи стопою четкою,
Работу, пляску, плаванье, полет
И - долгое оно или короткое -
Пусть вместе с нами что-то создает.
Бегущая минута незаметная
Рождает миру подвиг или стих.
Глядишь - и вечность, старая, бездетная,
Усыновит племянников своих.
«The current of time's river / Will carry off all human deeds / And sink into oblivion / All peoples, kingdoms and their kings. And if there's something that remains / Through sounds of horn and lyre, / It too will disappear into the maw of time / And not avoid the common fate.»
«Why do you strike up songs military / Fife-like, o, bullfinch, my friend? / Who'll take the lead in our fight with Hell's forces? / Who will command us? What Hercules? / Where is Suvorov, strong, swift and fearless? / Now Northern thunder lies dead in the grave. Who will ride fiery, ahea...»
«I'll leave the mortal world behind, / Take wing in an flight fantastical, / With singing, my eternal soul / Will rise up swan-like in the air. Possessing two immortal traits, / In Purgatory I won't not linger, / But rising over jealousy / I'll leave behind me kingdoms' shine. 'Tis so! ...»
«I built myself a monument, eternal and miraculous, / It's higher than the Pyramids, than metal it is harder; / Swift winds and thunder cannot knock it down / The flight of time cannot demolish it. Thus I won't really die! The part of me that's largest / Will baffle death, and will escape de...»