Our grandad’s outlandish dream,
the prison years of our heroes,
our hope and our heartfelt lament,
our prayer we hardly dared utter –
our dis-membered
dis-constituted,
dis-banded
Constituent Assembly.
Наших дедов мечта невозможная,
Наших героев жертва острожная,
Наша молитва устами несмелыми,
Наша надежда и воздыхание, —
Учредительное Собрание, —
Что мы с ним сделали?
«I I had lots of fun today: / First the thief who pinched a pullet / From that hag across the way; / Then the horse — they tried to pull it — / Jumped and bolted like a bullet; / And the kite has flown away. But — the thief is no more free, / They have locked him in a cell; / Fo...»
«Twilight was turning to darkness outside. / Under the eaves a window banged wide. A curtain was lifted, a light briefly shone, / A swift shadow fell down the wall and was gone. Happy the man who falls head first to death: / At least for a moment his viewpoint is fresh.»
«Amidst a smoking desolation, / The worker, fist raised threateningly, / In fear and angry desperation / Confronts his cunning enemy. While, trusting to a crowd of feckless / Hands to guard the wealth he makes, / As stubborn as a stone, but reckless, / The bourgeois rages, too, and shake...»
«Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.1 “I, I, I.” What a strange word he’s saying! / That man there — can he really be “I”? / Such a creature my mother watched playing — / Ashen skin, and the hair slightly graying, / As all-wise as a snake, and as sly? The boy dancing at count...»