Not for safe-keeping for awhile, –
For the altar, not donation, –
For the fire, the fire, its oblation
Rapt Israel brought in times gone by!
And pleasing to Jehovah’s nostrils
Was smoke from sacrificial fires,
Because a consecrated offering
In truth, can not be taken back…
You, pastors of the flocks of Christ,
Merchants with a priestly ranking!
What is your gift? A simple price:
Deposit and withdrawal banking!
And Israel, your ancient torch
Shall shine above the world again,
The cross atop the church is stained
And God is clearly not within!
Не на храненье до поры, —
На жертвенник, а не в копилку, —
В огонь, в огонь Израиль пылкий
Издревле нес свои дары!
И дымный жертвенный пожар
Ноздрям Господним был приятен,
Затем, что посвященный дар
Поистине был безвозвратен...
Вы, пастыри Христовых стад,
Купцы с апостольской осанкой!
Что ваша жертва? Только вклад:
Внесли и вынули из банка!
И оттого твой древний свет
Над миром всходит вновь, Израиль,
Что крест над церковью истаял
И в этой церкви Бога нет!
«The sailors near the port / shouted in chorus, demanding wine, / and over Stambul and over the Bosphorus / the full moon shone. Tonight they will hurl an unfaithful wife / to the bottom of the bay, / a wife who was too beautiful / and looked like the moon. She loved her daydreams, / ...»
«Describing circle after circle, / The wheeling kite looks down upon / A dream-like, empty meadow. A mother / Grieves in the cabin for her son: / “Here, suck this breast, here, take this bread. / Grow up, be humble, trust in God.” The ages pass, endless war rages, / Revolt flares, vi...»
«Over the empty fields a black kite hovers, / And circle after circle smoothly weaves. / In the poor hut, over her son in the cradle / A mother grieves: / “There, suck my brest: there grow and take our bread, / And learn to bear your cross and bow your head.” Time passes. War returns. ...»
«1. Black night. / White snow. / The wind, the wind! / Impossible to stay on your feet. / The wind, the wind! / Blowing across God’s world! The wind swirls round / The clean, white snow. / Under the snow — there’s ice. / It’s sl...»