1.
To live on an exposed peak,
To write uncomplicated sonnets....
Being sustained by the peasants
With bread, wine, and cutlets.
2.
To burn my ships, those behind and ahead,
To lie down, looking at nothing, in bed.
Drift into dreamless sleep and, for ken's sake,
Some one hundred years or so hence, awake.
1
Жить на вершине голой,
Писать простые сонеты...
И брать от людей из дола
Хлеб, вино и котлеты.
2
Сжечь корабли и впереди, и сзади,
Лечь на кровать, не глядя ни на что,
Уснуть без снов и, любопытства ради,
Проснуться лет чрез сто.
«to Valentina Serova Don't be angry if I write / Only just from time to time, / Writing now, and then again, / Waiting till another time. Letters come in many forms: / Some are sick and some are sad, / Brilliant just occasionally, / Far more often very bad. Letters leave a lot unsaid, ...»
«to Valentina Serova I remember two girls at the door in the night, / (Your shows ended later the year before last) / Two fans at the door of the theatre with me, / Who hoped for two words from your lips as you passed. / Yes, I was to go with you. And yet to them / I think you were kinder ...»
«to Valentina Serova I want to say to you "You are my wife!" / Because you were not called that by the rest, / Because to my old home, destroyed by war, / You're hardly likely now to come as guest; Because I have not always wished you well, / Because I've had no sympathy from you, / Becau...»
«to Valentina Serova As I recall the year that's ending / I can't decide the happy time / When, more than any other moment, / I truly felt that you were mine. Was it that night at your rehearsal? / The light that came on suddenly — / And your admonitory whisper / "You mustn't — eve...»