A bird who wants to go higher
flies into the blue.
A lady who wants to go higher
wears a high-heeled shoe.
When I don't have any shoes
I go to the market and buy some.
Someone who's missing a nose
can go get a false one.
When a nation discovers it has no soul,
it goes to the neighbors
and buys one! Sold!
...and unsouled!
Птица, стремясь ввысь,
Летит к небу,
Панна, стремясь ввысь,
Носит высокие каблуки.
Когда у меня нет обуви,
Я иду на рынок и покупаю её.
Когда у кого-нибудь нет носу,
Он покупает воску.
Когда у народа нет души,
Он идет к соседнему
И за плату приобретает её —
Он, лишенный души!..
«When, in the cornfield, yellow waves are rising, / The wood is rustling at the sound of soft wind, / And, in the garden, crimson plums are hiding / In pleasant shade of leaves, so shining ones and green; When, spilled with fragrant dew in calmness of the alley, / In morning of a gold or eve...»
«We stood in the ranks — as a mute crowd, once, / While putting our friend to a ground, / Heard our chaplain's murmur and, by chance, / The roar of a tempest around. / The shakos sparkled over the sacred abode, / Immovable ones in a cloud, / With a...»
«Waves roll in columns on their usual route — / Splashing and humming, they run; / People, too, stride in a lousy crowd — / Every one trails everyone. / Waves favor cold of their slavery more / Than heat of midday sunny rays, / People take care of their souls...»
«Enough of sparing shameful sin! / Are, truly, blackguards' shields — the crowns? / Let fools adore them herein, / Let t'other lyre pour them sounds. / But, you, Bard, stop singing forthwith, / A golden wreath is not your wreath. While living from your land apart / Be proud as with lif...»