My unglorious day is waning,
Finally the end has come…
Oh, my ash-tree ice! My verses,
Light-transparent frigid ones!
I do not intend to leave my
Useless goods to anyone.
I shine up the crystal and the
Silver for myself alone.
And my icon lamp is burning,
Getting rosy from inside…
Well, and you who do not need it,
From my feast just hide your eyes…
It’s the arctic here. With reason
I keep warm as daylight wanes
With this secret heat, emitted
From a glassy-surfaced blaze.
На исходе день невзрачный,
Наконец, пришел конец...
Мой холодный, мой прозрачный,
Стих мой, лед-ясенец!
Никому не завещаю
Я ненужное добро.
Для себя лишь засвечаю
Хрустали и серебро, —
И горит моя лампада,
Розовея изнутри...
Ну а ты, кому не надо,
Ты на пир мой не смотри...
Здесь полярный круг. Недаром
Греюсь на исходе дня
Этим сокровенным жаром
Застекленного огня.
«Over Moscow where the Moskva River flows, / When the hostile bombers came at night, / When for watches in the hush of dark we rose, / Then our flashlights we would always light. A sentry round the year, / From sundown till the light, / My flashlight, my companion dear, / Burn bright, bu...»
«Black cross on the Italian’s bosom, / With no chasing, or pattern, or gloss on, / By poor family handed down, / Heirloom worn by the only son. Young and carefree native of Napoli, / Why come here to die so unhappily? / What strange restlessness drove you away / From the shores of that...»
«To Iosif Utkin* Fresh oats he’ll feed / To the horses on top the Bolshoi**, / Four spirited steeds / Strong and fast1 as a river in spate. / We’ve caught up with that woman... / Are you called Cleopatra? My joy, / Come to me, come, / I’m waiting for you at the gate. I shall sho...»
«I've bad a name ever since birth, / Cherished my own opinion... / Believe me, friends, I’m most averse / To pass into oblivion. It’s not that, when my body’s old, / I'll grudge the good earth having it. / My great love is inspiring life / In things that are inanimate. The river b...»