There’s no way for me to go back!
I scream at full anguish.
I run around the squares
Of the chess board.
I step on every other one:
The others — are not mine.
Oh, my stingy joy,
You split me, too, in two.
So that I’m to measure by half.
That I’m to believe by half-faith.
That I’m to howl in half-voice.
That I’m to be not myself!
Нет мне пути обратно!
Накрик кричу от тоски,
Бегая по квадратам
Шахматной доски.
Через один ступаю:
Прочие — не мои.
О, моя радость скупая,
Ты и меня раздвои, —
Чтоб мне вполмеры мерить,
Чтобы вполверы верить,
Чтобы вполголоса выть,
Чтобы собой не быть!
«Yes, yes! In blind and tender passion / wear out the pain, burn out the fire; / rip your heart up, like a letter, / lose your mind, and then expire. And then? Once more to roll away / the gravestone that lies over you; / to love once more, and flash your feet / upon a stage of moonlit b...»
«Enter bringing me a dream, / or some gorgeousness from hell, / or bring me God if you're from Him, / but little acts of meaning well, / leave on the hatstand in the hall. / Here on this pea we call the earth, / either be angel or be demon, / but to be human — what's the worth / of ...»
«The stopper in the iodine / has rotted from the strength inside, / the way the soul will burn unseen / and eat the flesh it's occupied.»
«Lady's washed her hands so long, / Lady's scrubbed her hands so hard, / and this lady won't forget / the blood around the neck. Lady, lady! Like a bird / you twitch about your sleepless bed. / Three hundred years you've had no sleep — / and six years now I've stayed awake.»