Ancient mysteries of nature
Sleep in secret, sacred fields.
Mother Earth! I’m but a stranger
To your endless vales and hills.
Vast of forests, breadth of waters,
Wings are strong below the sun.
But your ages and your wonders
Blur in planets’ endless run.
Not by you, I was anointed,
Not to you, my fate was sworn.
Now my journey is appointed
From the sunset towards dawn.
It’s my destiny to wander
Silent void of heaven blind.
As I rise to endless yonder,
I have nothing left behind.
Yet for you, in starry ether,
Where auroras dream in peace,
My blue eyes will shine forever
Like two moons in the abyss.
Там, где вечно дремлет тайна,
Есть нездешние поля.
Только гость я, гость случайный
На горах твоих, земля.
Широки леса и воды,
Крепок взмах воздушных крыл.
Но века твои и годы
Затуманил бег светил.
Не тобой я поцелован,
Не с тобой мой связан рок.
Новый путь мне уготован
От захода на восток.
Суждено мне изначально
Возлететь в немую тьму.
Ничего я в час прощальный
Не оставлю никому.
Но за мир твой, с выси звездной,
В тот покой, где спит гроза,
В две луны зажгу над бездной
Незакатные глаза.
«Kakhovka*, Kakhovka, my rifle-companion, / A smouldering bullet discharge. / Irkutsk and Warszawa**, Oryol and Kakhovka — / The milestones of many a march. The lines were attacking and bullets rained heavy, / Machine guns were blasting away, / She came in her trenchcoat, through burning...»
«Oh, the nightingale sings in the graveyard, / Oh, the poplars hum over grave-mounds... / Who can tell us how many poor wretches, / Luckless orphans repose underground? I stand looking at somebody’s last home, / I’ve forgotten my dead happiness... / In the whole spacious world I have n...»
«Franz Josef Land / In a freezing sea / Is where I’ll forget / You abandoned me. Rot! I’m aware / On those Polar nights / You’ll shimmer there / In the Northern Lights And the Polar dawns / Will ripple as those / Long fingers of yours / Spread over the floes. Thrifty with l...»
«Gentle in friendship, in argument vehement, / It seems only yesterday I saw you thus / Sitting here talking with Boris Levin** / Till dawn, there was so much to discuss. I see you addressing a general meeting / Of the club with a speech that’s tense and terse, / Winning the Diamond Cup,...»