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.
«From the diary of a contemporary At wit’s end, I went to the doctor. / He pushed a pince-nez down on his nose: / “Nerves. Anxiety. Too soon to tell... / “So, I’ll prescribe / Guniyadi Janos.” The blood pounded in my temples: / Guniyadi?! For questions, / For disbelief, for bo...»
«Immortality? For you two-legged moles, / Who aren’t worthy of even a day on earth? / Perhaps — after feeling deeply offended — / Lizards, toads, and worms will want the same... Petty bourgeois with wings! Gingerbread and cakes! / They gorged themselves for half a century and now they ...»
«A simian profile / With slits for eyes; / Dumpling lips and a potato nose: / Neither a girl nor a goat. Hair like a fishtail; / No bust, more like a frying pan; / And growing from the chin — / It’s terrible, I know — a beard. Choppy gestures, long feet, / Hands twisted backward...»
«Family — a mess of acquaintances — whiners, / An insufferable carnival of fools. / From work, from friends, from rotten politics / The brain is endlessly assailed. / Take books — garbage and filth: / One cat scratches, / Another licks, breeds filth / And mews sensually... Peter ...»