A capricious, avaricious kind —
Like fire, the Russian mind is dire:
Irrepressible, lucidity for hire,
So gay — and gloom will always find.
Like an undeviating needle,
It sees the pole in ripples and murky still;
From abstract daydreams in life’s cradle
It shows the course for timorous will.
The way an eagle sees through fog
It examines all the valley’s dust,
It reflects sensibly about the earth
While bathing in dark mystical must.
Своеначальный, жадный ум, —
Как пламень, русский ум опасен
Так он неудержим, так ясен,
Так весел он — и так угрюм.
Подобный стрелке неуклонной,
Он видит полюс в зыбь и муть,
Он в жизнь от грезы отвлеченной
Пугливой воле кажет путь.
Как чрез туманы взор орлиный
Обслеживает прах долины,
Он здраво мыслит о земле,
В мистической купаясь мгле.
«There is fatal news of perdition / In your innermost songs through and through. / There's a curse of holy volition / And affront of happiness, too. / / Their power, so captivating, / Makes me say what everyone says: / Fair angels you've been abating / Fascinate them with your g...»
«Three shabby straps begin to flutter / Like in the golden years again, / And sticking in the slushy gutter / The motley spokes can hardly gain. / / Oh Russia, wretched Russia, dear, / Your houses, so grey and rough, / Your songs that blow, up in the air, / Appear as clear as tear...»
«High up, above the sleepy world, / The kite flies round drawing circles / And watching the deserted wold. / At home the mom her sunny suckles: / "Now take it, suck the breast, be good, / Grow, bear your cross of babyhood". / / The years fly over, full of drama, / With wars and vill...»
«He was born painlessly, in bless, / But we are born in awful torments, / Yet, even heavens will be stressed, / When heard the song that now floats. Not a sweet voice, but fierce cries / Will cut the womb, so dark and heavy: / The sightless embryo denies / His coffin-like ways for beha...»