Pursued by howling foes,
I run a mortal race;
The newly fallen snow
Is so nice for chase.
The hooting, tally-ho'ing
Surrounds me, high-pitched.
Saliva bubbles and foams in
The jaws of an old bitch.
The world of rimy snouts,
Of canine bloodshot eyes,
They all are so proud,
The hound's role is prized.
And setting back my ears,
I run for life, half slain
By suffocating fear
Amidst the shining plain.
I'm running, running, running,
But know all the same:
It ends my life, this funny,
This ancient hunting game.
Свой дом родимый брошу,
Бегу, едва дыша;
По первой по пороше
Охота хороша.
Мир будет улюлюкать:
Ату его, ату...
Слюна у старой суки
Пузырится во рту.
Мир песьих, красноглазых,
Заиндевевших морд,
Где каждый до отказа
Собачьей ролью горд.
И я, прижавши уши,
Бегу, бегу, бегу,
И сердце душит душу
В блистающем снегу.
И в вое кобелином,
Гудящем за спиной,
Игрой такой старинной
Закончу путь земной.
«1 In the trading district where a person’s feet / Can hardly step, a fortune-teller’s footsteps go / Stepping through the raging storm, a street / Where men, dead-like, sleep in the snow, — But wait, in the trading district where a per- / son’s feet can hardly step, a fortune-telle...»
«I seem adroit at picking words / As primordial as your words are. / If wrong, — it’s all the same to me, / I’ll go on making errors anyway. I hear patter on wet roofs, and eclogues / That fade from boardwalks and cobblestones. / A certain city, distinct from the first line, / Thri...»
«You have a right, turning out your pockets, / To say: rummage, grope, search. / To me clearer than finding cheese / In a daze, is the fact — morning in March. Trees with fleecy peasant coats / Stand in the half-exposed soil. / Outside the close room, the weight / On the branches seems...»
«Unbelievable, — they declared, — rubbish, / But I overheard it from a second, / Third, everyone. Into stopped time / Lined up without distinction were / Houses of officials and business men, / With yards and trees covered with / Rook-cocks, in sun’s intoxication, / Flaring up at ...»