When horses die, they breathe
When grasses die, they wither,
When suns die, they go out,
When people die, they sing songs.
Когда умирают кони — дышат,
Когда умирают травы — сохнут,
Когда умирают солнца — они гаснут,
Когда умирают люди — поют песни.
«Skillful mistress of guilty glances / Heiress owning tiny shoulders, / The dangerous habits of the male are tamed / And the drowning woman-speech is dumb. Fish swim, flap fins, and puff their gills. / Here, take it, try to feed them now — / Their mouths that gape in silent O’s — / ...»
«By denying me the seas, the right to run and fly, / By holding my foot firm on the constraining earth, / What have you achieved? A splendid calculation, / But you couldn’t seize my muttering lips thereby.»
«What is the name of this street? / Mandelstam Street. / What the hell kind of name is that? / No matter how you turn it round, / It has a crooked sound, it isn’t straight. There wasn’t much about him straight, / His attitudes weren’t lily-white. / And that is why this street / O...»
«It’s with your laughing picture that I’m living now, / You whose wrists are so slender and crackle at the joints, / You who wring your hands yet are unwilling to go, / You whose guests stay for hours sharing sadness and joys. You who’ll run from the cards and Rakoczy bravura, / From t...»