I seek for rhythmic whisperings
Where noises bandy —
For life I listen wistfully
In footless banter.
I cast wide nets and tentative
In lakes of sorrow.
I go toward final tenderness
By pathways sordid.
I look for dewdrops glistering
In falsehood's gardens.
I save truth's globules glistening,
From dust-heaps garnered.
I fain would fathom fortitude
Through years of wormwood —
And pierce the mortal fortalice,
Yet live, a worldling.
My cup, through ways impassable,
To bear, untainted;
By tenebrous bleak passages
To joy attaining.
Ищу напевных ше-
потов
В несвязном шу-
ме,
Ловлю живые шо-
рохи
В ненужной шу-
тке.
Закидываю не-
воды
В озера гру-
сти,
Иду к последней не-
жности
Сквозь пыль и гру-
бость.
Ищу росинок ис-
кристых
В садах непра-
вды,
Храню их в чаше ис-
тины,
Беру из пра-
ха.
Хочу коснуться сме-
лаго
Чрез горечь жи-
зни.
Хочу прорезать сме-
ртное
И знать, что жив -
я.
Меж цепкого и ле-
пкого
Скользнуть бы с ча-
шей.
По самой темной ле-
стнице
Дойти до сча-
стья.
«1 The pillow is already hot / On both its sides. / The second candle’s at / Its end, and ravens’ cries / Are now resounding near. / I didn’t sleep this night, / Too late for sleep I fear, / Oh, how unbearably white / Is this curtain here. / Welcome! 2 The same voice and ga...»
«And cursing each other with brute / Passion, white-hot all through, / Neither one of us understood / How small the earth was for two, / That memory torments with spite, / Afflicting the most strong-hearted, / That one learns to plead in the night: / Where has my friend departed? / An...»
«A heavy shroud is placed onto the ground, / The bells are droning in a solemn show, / The spirit is again confused and troubled / By weary boredom of the Tsarskoe Selo. / Five years have passed. And all is dumb and dead here, / The world has reached the end, it seems. / The theme exhaust...»
«I cried and I even repented, / Let the sky thunder and groan! / My dark heart just couldn’t stand it / In your forsaken vacant home. / I know a pain that is unbearable, / The shame of returning stunned… / How frightening it is, how terrible, / To the unloved, to the quiet one. / ...»