Oh, the unconquerable heaviness
Of these waters silenced
Behind centuries-old dams!
Oh Lord! It’s still the same, it’s hard for me
With my heart full to overflowing,
And a muse who’s un-talkative.
О, этих вод обезмолвленных
За вековыми запрудами
Тяжесть непреодолимая!
Господи! Так же мне! Трудно мне
С сердцем моим переполненным,
С Музой несловоохотливой.
«Delightful, after all the wind and frost / to warm myself beside the fire; / but there I failed to guard my heart / and someone stole it in desire. The New Year celebrations linger, / the roses' stems are soft and moist; / but in my breast no longer sings / the whirring of dragonflies' ...»
«Did he send no swan for me, / did he send no boat, no dark raft? / He promised in the spring of 'sixteen / that he would come without delay. / I'd fly to him like a bird in the spring / of nineteen sixteen, he said. / Through darkness and death I'd come to his perch / and touch his sho...»
«I pray to the slender shaft of light / that pierces the window, pale and straight. / Since morning I have not spoken; / today my heart in two is broken. / The shiny brass on my wash-stand / has turned to verdigris of late. Yet the light that plays upon it / is a gladness to behold. / ...»
«We suffer equally this parting: / It is dark, and it is lasting. / Why weep? Give me your hand / Promise to come again in dreamland. / You and I are like grief upon dearest grief… / In this world, for us, there can be no meeting. / Just send me in the small hours, / via the stars, / ...»