Goodbye, my friend, goodbye.
My dear, you are in my heart.
This predestined parting
Promises a meeting in time to come.
Goodbye, my friend, without a hand, without a word,
Don’t be sad and furrow your brow in sorrow, —
To die in this life is not new,
But to live, of course, is hardly newer.
До свиданья, друг мой, до свиданья.
Милый мой, ты у меня в груди.
Предназначенное расставанье
Обещает встречу впереди.
До свиданья, друг мой, без руки, без слова,
Не грусти и не печаль бровей, —
В этой жизни умирать не ново,
Но и жить, конечно, не новей.
«The white willow was black, up on the hill, / crows puffed faintly; / in the blue, the very blue meadow / clouds wandered like sheep. / And intending to give yourself / you said, “I love you — ” / and grass grew all around, grass like an ocean, / and it was afternoon. / I was k...»
«The icon candle flickers, small, / the half-dark nursery is horribly quiet. / The frightened child / hides in the pink lace bed. What's that? The house spirit coughing? / He lives there, he's little, he's bald... / Agh! A vicious rat creeps slowly / from behind the wardrobe. It waves i...»
«At evening times above the restaurants / The sultry air’s harsh and stale. / The spirit of the spring-time pestilence / Reigns over drunken muffled wails. And further up in dusty alley ways, / Beyond the summer cottage sloth, / A baker’s shop sign glistens gaudily, / And chi...»
«A night, a street, a lamp, a drugstore, / A meaningless and dismal light. / A quarter century outpours — / It’s all the same. No chance of flight. You’d die and rise anew, begotten. / All would repeat as ever might: / The street, the icy rippled water, / The store, the lamp, the ...»