On the island of Ezeli
we got along easily.
I went to Kamchatka
where you were a hat-check girl.
From the heights of Altai
I smiled and said, «Hi!»
On the shores of Amur,
I'amour.
На острове Эзеле
Мы вместе грезили,
Я был на Камчатке,
Ты теребила перчатки
С вершины Алтая
Я сказал «дорогая».
В предгорьях Амура
Крылья Амура.
«And here again, as dusk now spreads, / Aloft and free in sky’s expanses / The birds’ formation sea-bound threads, / An arrow’s shade, its chain advances. The dusk is limpid, steppe is hushed, / The reddening sunset now is blazing… / The sky by mute formation’s brushed, / Birds...»
«Of the cuckoo asked I boldly, / To discover when I’d die... / Pine trees’ tips were trembling coldly. / Yellow beam on grass did lie. / From the thicket there’s no answer... / I am bound for home, / Chilly breeze plays like a dancer / On my hot brow’s dome.»
«I do not ask of love; I do not sing of spring, / But listen to my song — for you alone I sing. Oh, judge it for yourself — for how on earth could I / Not lose all self-control when I this snow espy? An ordinary garden, just another day, / But why are all the bells alive in mad affray, ...»
«And briefly a joy was ignited, / I now was dejected and broke, / And now I was wandering benighted / Abodes in the dark and the smoke. And ardent for night’s inspiration / Laid low with my malady’s blight, / I met with another narration / Of lovely and radiant delight. Extinguished...»