For four years on end
Immortal was I.
For four years on end
Light-hearted was I.
For I never knew I would die one fine day,
For I never knew I would not live for aye.
You who know how to make life sweet and pleasant,
Like children, immortal — believe not in death;
Death's time is the future — but never the present,
Though you may be breathing your very last breath.
Года четыре был я бессмертен,
Года четыре был я беспечен,
Ибо не знал я о будущей смерти,
Ибо не знал я, что век мой не вечен.
Вы, что умеете жить настоящим,
В смерть, как бессмертные дети, не верьте.
Миг этот будет всегда предстоящим —
Даже за час, за мгновенье до смерти.
«It wasn’t living, I wasted / half my life / — and then, Lord, You came to me / like this, in an impossible dream. I see light on Mount Tabor / and my heart hurts / with love for the land and the sea / and the whole tree-dark dream of existence, My heart hurts that / I wasn’t Yo...»
«Conquistador in iron armor, / Pursuing gaily my own star; / I walk through precipice and canyon, / And only rest in joyful lands. The fog grows grim in starless skies. / But I am silent and I wait; / And I have faith — I’ll find my love. / Conquistador in iron armor. If stars can h...»
«Conquistador, set in the iron armor, / I gaily follow the outgoing star, / I go over precipices, harbors / And rest in joyful groves, so far. Oh, how wild and starless heaven's shelter! / The haze is growing, but, silent, I must wait. / Conquistador, in iron armor set, / I'll find my lo...»
«I am a conquistador in an iron armour, / And joyfully am following а star. / I pass over the gaps and oceans / And rest in blissful orchards — half ajar. How dimly in the skies the mist is growing / And makes the panorama starless, wild, / But I believe that I will find my love / I a...»