High
in the sky
sailed clouds.
Just four of them —
none of your crowds.
From the first to the third
they looked men,
while the fourth
was a camel.
Then,
when they were well adrift,
they were joined
on the way
by a fifth,
from which,
absolutely irrelevant,
ran elephant
after elephant.
Till —
perhaps a sixth
came and gave them a scare —
the clouds
all vanished
into thin air.
And after them,
champing the clouds into chaff,
galloped the sun,
a yellow giraffe.
Плыли по небу тучки.
Тучек — четыре штучки:
от первой до третьей — люди,
четвертая была верблюдик.
К ним, любопытством объятая,
по дороге пристала пятая,
от нее в небосинем лоне
разбежались за слоником слоник.
И, не знаю, спугнула шестая ли,
10 тучки взяли все — и растаяли.
И следом за ними, гонясь и сжирав,
солнце погналось — желтый жираф.