owed my breath -
O depth, O haze -
That by the name I called
The Village of the Tsar muse.
3
Just one more gigantic flap -
Eyelids are quiet.
O, dear body! O the ash
Of bird so light!
I sang and waited, what I did
In fog of day.
So little body was in her,
And so much sigh.
Her dreamy sleepiness is not
Humanly dear.
Something of eagle and of angel
There was in her.
She sleeps, and chorus lulls her to
Garden of Eden.
As if he's not sated with song,
The sleeping demon!
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Hours, days, centuries - Not us,
Not our rooms yet.
And monument does not recall
Already, bent.
The broom is doing naught for long,
And sweetly heave
Over the Muse of Village of the Tsar
The nettle's leaves.
4
Mother's name is Anna,
Lev - of the child.
In his name is fury,
In her is quiet.
Red is his hair -
Tulip's head!
So, Hossanah
To the little tsar!
God give him lungs
And the smile of Mom
And a look of
Pearl-seeking one.
God, attentively
Look after him:
Tsar's son's more divine
Than the other sons.
Red lion-cub
With green eyes,
Heavy burden is on your head!
Northern and Southern oceans
And thread of pearl
Black rosary is in your hand.
5
You repeat nobody. How many
Companions and friends! And
Pride and bitterness rule over
This youth so tender.
Remember the crazy day at the port
Threats of the Southern wind,
Roar of the Caspian - and in the mouth
A rose's wing.
Like a gypsy I gave to you
A stone in a cut frame,
Like a gypsy I lied to you
Something about fame..
And - high at the sails -
Teenager in blue blouse.
Thunder of sea and the menacing call
Of the wounded Muse.
6
You won't leave alone! I'm a warden,
You're an escort. The fate is one.
And one in the frigid empty
Order for horses is to us given.
And my temperament is peaceful!
And clear are my eyes!
Let me go, Mr. Escort, now
To take a walk to that pine!
7
That from catafalques and from cribs
You, ripping away the cover,
You that fan the winds
And snowstorms send over,
Sending fevers, poems and wars -
Serf-keeper! Black magician! -
I have heard the menacing roar
Of lions, of the chariot preaching.
I hear voices in passionate tones -
And a steadfastly silent one.
I see the red sails -
And a black one them among.
Either by ocean you lead the way,
With the full breast - or by air
I, like sun, wait, holding out my chest
To the judgment that does death bear.
8
People shouted on the street,
Smoke flew from the bakery place.
I remembered the ruby mouth
Of a street singer with narrow face.
In the dark kerchief with flowers -
Honored by your civility
You were drowned in the crowd
Of praying ones at Sergei-Trinity,
Pray for me, beautiful one,
Sorrowful one and mad,
How the forests will crown you as
The lashing mother of god.
9
To the golden-lipped Anne - to a word
That all of Russia redeems!
Carry away my voice
And my heavy sigh, wind.
About quiet bow of the earth among
Golden fields, O the burning skies,
Tell the story; and also about
From the agony blackened eyes.
You attained once again
In the thundering height!
You - the nameless one!
Carry love of mine
To the gold-lipped Anne -
All of Russia!
10
At the thin wire over oats' wave
Like thousand voices - is the voice today!
And - holy, holy, holy - tabors passing by
Speak with the same voice, O the holy,
I stand and I listen and I rub the corn ear,
And voice locks me up with a dark cupola.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Not these branches of swimming willows
But your arm I truly touch so.
For all, who in torment your approach glory -
The earthly woman, a cross in the sky to me!
At night curtsies to you alone I bear,
And with your eyes from the walls the icons stare!
11
You'll overtake the Sun in the sky,
In your hand all the stars!
Ah, if - only to enter you
Like a wind - door ajar!
And to tremble, and burst out,
And sharply to dull the sight,
And, like a forgiven child,
To sob and to go quiet.
12
I have been given arms - to each one to stretch both,
Not to hold tight not with one, lips - to give names,
Eyes - not to see, the high eyebrows above them -
To tenderly marvel at love, and more still at not love.
And this the bell there, heavier than the Kremlin's,
Ceaselessly walking and walking around in the chest -
This - who knows? - I don't know - maybe - it must be -
I will not become a guest on the Russian soil!
x x x
I'll conquer you from all lands, from all the sky,
Because forest is my cradle and in the forest I'll die,
For I stand on the ground with just one of my legs,
For I will sing to you like no one else.
I'll conquer you from all times, I will fight
All golden banners, all swords and all nights,
I will chase away dogs from a porch and I'll throw the key
For in winter night not even dogs are more loyal than me.
I'll conquer you from all others - from that one
I will be no one's wife, you - no one's groom,
And in the last argument I will take you - be quiet! -
From the one with which Jacob stood in the night.
But for now I won't on your chest the fingers cross -
With you, you remain - O the curse! -
Your two wings, that at the ether take aim -
Because the world is your cradle, and world your grave.
x x x
To you, my rival, I will come sometime
At night when moon is standing overhead
When frogs are wailing loudly on the pond
And women are from pity going mad.
And, marveling at the beating of the eyelids
And on your jealous eyelashes, it seems,
I'll tell you that I'm not a human being
But just a vision which you only dream.
And I will say: "Console me, console,
Someone is beating nails into my heart!"
And I will say to you that wind is fresh
And that the stars over our heads are hot.
To Jews
Who did not stomp on you - who did not melt you -
O merchant of the non-flammable roses!
One thing unshakable on this planet
Did allow behind him Jesus:
Israel! Your second kingdom's coming:
For all the money, if they only knew,
You paid with all your blood - you are the heroes,
The traitors, prophets, and the traders too.
In each of you - Even in him that counts
His gold before a candle in the dark -
The voice of Jesus resonates more loudly
Than in John, Matthew, Luke and Mark.
Around the earth - from ocean to ocean -
Crucifixion and from the cross taking down -
We'll give Jesus Christ a true burial,
Israel, with the last one of your sons!
x x x
You, measuring me by days,
With, hot and homeless, me,
Wandered under the giant moon
Upon the squares heated strongly?
And in the tavern filled with plague,
When solemn waltz a sound did make,
Did you not in a drunken fist
My piercing fingers verily break?
With which voice in my sleep do I
Whisper - you heard? - O smoke and ash! -
What can you know of me, since you
With me did not sleep or get trashed?
x x x
August - asters,
August - stars,
August - bunches
Of grapes and ashberry
Rusty - August!
Like a child, August
You play with your apple
Good-natured and full of weight.
Like with hand, with your imperial
Name you do caress the heart:
August! - Heart!
Month of late kisses,
Of late roses and late lightning!
Of the rain beneath the stars
August! - Month
Of the rain beneath the stars!
Don Juan
1
Under the sixth birch
At the corner church
On the frosty dawn
Wait, Don Juan!
But with groom, alas,
And my life I swear,
There is nowhere
In my land to kiss!
We don't have a fountain,
And the well did freeze,
Strict, severe eyes
Does Madonna have.
And so that the beauties
Trifles would not hear
We have loud and clear
Ringing of the bell.
Here I would have lived,
But - I will grow old,
You don't like my world
O the handsome one.
Ah, in a bear coat
It's hard to recognize you,
If not for your lips too,
O Don Juan!
2
Long upon the foggy dawn
The snowstorm did weep.
In a bed of snow they lay
Don Juan to sleep.
No hot stars above his head,
Not a roaring fountain..
Othodox cross is on the chest
Of our Don Juan.
I have brought a Sevillian
Fan, black, so that night
That's eternal, for yourself
Would become more light.
That you'd see a woman's beauty
With your own sight,
I will bring without a doubt
A heart to you tonight.
And for now - from distant lands -
Sleep now, sleep in peace! -
You have come to me. Complete,
Don Juan, is your list.
3
Aren't you tired, after so many roses,
Cities and toasts
To love me? You're almost a skeleton,
I'm almost a ghost.
And why should I know, that you had to call
On a higher power?
And why should I know, that there was smell of Nile
In my hair?
No, I better tell you a tale:
January it was.
A monk with a mask carried a flashlight.
Someone threw a rose.
Someone's drunken voice at cathedral walls
Prayed and swore.
Don Juan of Castille met Carmen
At this hour.
4
Exactly - midnight.
Moon - like a hawk.
"Why - do you peer?"
"Thus - I peer!"
"Do you like me?" "No."
"Do you recognize me?" "Maybe."
"I am Don Juan."
"And I am Carmen."
5
And this Don Juan had Donna Anna,
And this Don Juan possessed a sword.
Of the beautiful, unhappy Don Juan
This from people is the only word.
But I was a clever one today:
I at midnight stepped on roadside,
Someone went along with me in stride
Calling names.
And in fog the staff paled, a strange one..
There was no Donna Anna for Don Juan!
6
And the silk sash is falling
To his feet - a snake heavenly..
And "someday, when she's underground,
You will calm down" they tell me.
I see my profile, old
And arrogant in brocade white.
And somewhere - guitars - guitars -
And youths in a cloak like the night.
And somebody under mask hiding:
"Recognize!" - "I don't know" - "Recognize!"
And the silk sash is falling
On a square round like paradise.
7
And fanning in eyes of the coming
Sadness and sin,
You pass the city - brutally-black,
Heavenly-thin.
Covered with torment, like with fog,
Is your eye.
In loop - a rose, in all the pockets -
Words of love. Aye!
I hear your call over the restaurant
Violin.
I send a smile to you from the distance,
Robber king!
And then I recognize that same look,
Spreading my wings,
With which in Castille at me stared
Your older sibling.
x x x
Above the church there are blue clouds,
A crows' cry...
And pass - the color of ash and sand -
Revolutionary troops... oh my
Blue-blooded, my kingly angst!
They don't have a face, don't have a name -
Nobody sings!
You got lost, the Kremlin ringing
In this banner forest full of wind.
Lie, Moscow, onto eternal sleep, and pray!
To Tsar, on Easter
Open, Open,
The gates of the tsar!
Darkness dimmed and poured out far.
With clean heat
Burns the altar -
Resurrect, Christ,
Yesterday's tsar!
Without glory fell
Two-headed eagle.
Tsar - you were wrong.
He'll remember inheritance
Many more times -
Byzantine sacrilege
Of your clear eyes.
Your judges -
Lightning and wave!
Tsar! God sought
You, not men.
But now there's Easter
In all the land,
Sleep in your village
With a calm mind,
Don't dream of
The banners red.
Tsar! Descendants
And ancestors - sleep.
There is a knapsack since
A throne you won't keep.
Stepan Razin
1
Winds have gone to sleep - with golden dawn,
Night comes - with a mountain of stone,
And with his princess from hot land
Rests the rabid chieftain.
Having gathered his youthful shoulders in a sack
He listened, his forehead leaning back,
How over his hot tent it thunders -
Nightingale's thunder.
2
Over Volga - night,
Over Volga - sleep...
Ornate rugs they have laid down,
And on them the chieftain has laid
With a Persian princess - black brows.
One can't see the stars, one can't hear the waves,
Oars and darkness extreme, this is all!
And the shuttle bears away into the chieftain's
Night sinful Persian soul.
And such a speech
Did the night hear:
Don't you want, at last,
To lie nearer?
Out of all our women
You're the pearl!
Am I this scary
I'm your all-time slave,
Persian girl!
My prisoner!
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
And she knitted the brows,
The long brows.
And she eyes cast down
Eyes Persian.
And from her lips
Only one sigh rings:
Djal-Eddin.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
And over Volga - a ruddy dawn,
And over Volga - heaven.
And the drunk crowd roars:
Get up, chieftain!
With a Muslim dog you did lie!
See the tears in the beauty's eyes!
And she - like death,
Bit her mouth in blood.
Thus goes a chieftain's brow so hard.
This our bed, you dog, you did not want,
So make do with our baptismal font!
It's dark in the day,
In the sky it is clear.
Red is the shoe
In the ship's rear.
And like menacing oak stands Stepan,
And to very lips pales Stepan.
Ah, so tiring - it shakes, rocks!
Hold up, heathens - in the eyes it's dark!
Here to you is the Persian girl,
The prisoner girl.
3
(DREAM OF RAZIN)
And Razin dreams a dream:
Like a cry of a heron of the swamp.
And Razin dreams a ringing:
Like silver droplets drop.
And Razin dreams of the bottom:
With flowers, like a kerchief, covered.
And he dreams of one face -
Forgotten, with black brows.
He sits, like God's mother,
Stringing pearls on a thread.
And he wants to tell her,
But only moves lips instead...
The breath has been stifled - ah
In the chest there is a glass chip.
And the glass slope walks past them
Like a guard who wants to sleep.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Down the Volga-river with
The steering dawn drove he.
Over just a single shoe
Why did you leave me?
Who will want a beauty
In just one shoe?
For the other shoe, friend,
I will come to you!
And rings, rings the bracelet: Drowned
The happiness of Stepan!
x x x
From a strict and elegant temple
On the squealing of squares you alight.
Freedom! The beautiful lady
Of marquises and Russian knights.
A dreadful rehearsal is on now -
Still ahead is the mass!
O freedom! The partying woman
On the mad soldier's chest!
x x x
Bitterness! On your lips, passion -
Is eternal aftertaste!
Bitterness! It is temptation
For all times - to die at last.
I from bitterness - am kissing
Everyone who's young and sweet.
You from bitterness - another
By the hand at night do lead.
With bread I eat, with water swallow
Bitter woe, bitter sorrow.
There is one such kind of grass,
Mother Russia, on your meadows.
Carmen
1
Divine, childish-plain
The dress is, and short to the plait.
How the sides of a pyramid
Rush sides from the belt.
What big rings there are
On the fingers little and dark!
What big buckles there are
On the tiny shoes!
And people eat and argue,
And people are playing cards.
You do not know, players,
What you have bet on the card!
And she - she needs nothing!
And she - she needs nothing!
Here's my chest. Tear my heart out -
Carmen - and drink my blood!
2
She stands, throwing back the throat,
And bit the mouth in blood.
And set the hand against bosom -
The left one - where there is love.
"On your knees!" - "What to you
Are my knees that I should bend,
Abbot?" With these words
Her last night Carmen did end.
Gypsy Wedding
Dirt flies
From under the hooves.
Shawl like a shield
Over the face.
Newlyweds, have fun
Without the young!
Eh, carry them out,
Disheveled stallion!
We didn't have freedom
Under mother and dad,
The whole field for us
Is marital bed!
Full without bread and without wine drunk -
Thus the gypsy wedding does run!
Full is the glass.
Empty is the glass.
Guitar sound, dirt and moon.
To right and to left swings the den.
Gypsy - to knight!
To gypsy - knight!
Hey mister, careful - it burns!
Thus drinks gypsy wedding!
There, on the shawls'
And fur-coats' heap
There's ringing and rustling
Of steel and lips.
Ringing of spurs,
Necklaces - in return.
Silk has whistled
Under someone's hand.
Someone has howled like a wolf,
Someone like a bull is snoring.
Thus sleeps the gypsy wedding.
x x x
The first day I recall, ferocity of childhood,
Exhaustion and the darkness of the gulp divine,
The carelessness of arms, the heartlessness of heart,
That fell onto the chest, like hawk, like stone.
And now - this time - trembling from heat and pity,
One: to howl like wolf, one: to the feet to fall,
To cast down - understand - penalty for sensuality
Is cruel love and passion terrible.
x x x
Night. North-East. The soldiers cry. Waves roar.
They bombed a wine warehouse. Along the walls,
Through ditches, runs a precious torrent
And in it dances bloody moon.
The trunks of the poplars are mad.
Mad also in the night, birds sing.
Empty, yesterday's monument to the tsar,
And over the tsar's monument - the night.
The harbor drinks, the barracks drink. The world is ours!
Ours is the wine in cellars of the knights!
The whole city, stomping just like bulls,
Falling to murky puddle on the road - drinks.
In cloud of wine - there is the moon. Who's here?
You beauty, be a comrade, drink!
And in the city there's a happy rumour,
That somewhere two have drowned in the wine.
x x x
Strong and wealthy have a hard time,
It is hard to all the lords.
I won't lower the light eyes
A red soldier before.
City's moaning and carousing,
Moon in cloud made of wine.
Not a living soul will touch me:
Poor and arrogant am I.
Kornilov
A Cossack, a Cossack's son...
Thus the speech has begun.
Homeland. Darkness. Foe.
Everyone's heads fall down.
Sound alarm, priests.
"There's no food." "Good."
Not a day should be lost!
A soldier must
Clean the horse...
To Moscow
1
You did not bend the shoulders, when the red-haired
Impostor seized you and for you did reach.
Where is your pride, you baroness? Your blush,
You beauty? Brilliant girl, your speech?
Like Tsar Peter, the law of sons despising,
Did lust with avarice after your head -
You answered to the Tsar of Russia truly
As baroness Morozova on the sled.
The fiery drink was not at all forgotten
By lips of Bonapart that were so cold.
The sides of Kremlin all things will endure.
In your cathedral not the first time stands a stall.
2
The thief Grishka did not make you Polish,
The Tsar Peter did not make you German.
"What're you doing, little dove?" "I'm crying."
"Where, Moscow, is your pride?" "It's gone."
"Where are all your doves?" "There is no feed."
"Who bore him away?" "The raven black."
"Where are all your holy crosses?" "Torn down."
"Where are your sons, Moscow?" "Killed."
3
Liquid ringing, meager ringing.
To all sides I'm curtsying.
Cry of infant, cow's roar.
The tsar's daring word.
Lashes' whistling, snow full of blood.
The dark word of Love.
The pigeons' quiet noise.
The Shooter's black eyes.
x x x
In vain, Cavalier de Grie,
Do you dream of the full of beauty,
Autocratic - her self not ruling -
Your voluptuous Manon.
From your rooms we are succeeding
In a flock tired and willing.
They recall us not past the evening.
Be obedient - such is the law.
We are coming in from night stormy,
We really need nothing from you,
Except supper - and pearls we need from you
And maybe one more thing - your soul!
Honor and duty, Cavalier - convention it is.
Let God give you a regiment of mistresses!
Showing a readiness in all this.
Passionately loving you
- M.
x x x
Standing for homeland, word "Marina"
Within your cutlass you did draft.
In your magnificent existence
I was your first one and your last.
A night and pre-dawn I remember
In hell of the soldiers' rail car.
In chest I keep the shoulder pieces
And in the wind I rush my hair.
Don
1
White army, your way's a high one:
Temple and chest - to the black gun.
White and divine is your cause:
Your white body - into the sand.
Not a flock of swans in the sky:
The sacred white army
Melts, melts with white sight..
The last dream of the old world:
Youth - Valour - Vandea - Don.
2
Who has survived will die, who has died will arise.
And now descendants, remember the times long gone:
Where were you? The question will roar like thunder,
Like thunder will roar the answer: On the Don!
"What did you do" "We were accepting torments,
Then grew tired and to sleep had gone.
And in the dictionary the thoughtful grandsons
Before the word "duty" will write the word "Don."
3
Waves and youth - outside the law!
Don has moved - we die - we drown.
We ask the wind of time to bear
To grandsons a wicked rumour:
Yes! Broke the Don's ice!
The white army - Yes! - died.
But with children and wives parting,
But on Don departing,
With a white flock flying onto the block,
We died for one thing: Huts!
On the last church having baptized,
White army - for centuries.
x x x
Hard and marvelous - loyalty till the coffin!
Tsar-like luxury in squares' time!
Firm are the souls and ribs are firm likewise
Where are you, people of days gone by?
With ash equating altar and the throne,
Like a red-haired Tatar the freedom prowls.
Over the ashtrays at the table there's
Fugitive soldiers' and faithless wives' growl.
x x x
O, pitiful exertions of usurpers!
Like sleep, like snow, like death, to all - a shrine.
A ban on Kremlin! There's no ban on wings, and
Therefore - there is no ban upon Kremlin.
x x x
Either soldiers drove into the ground a stake,
Either they covered a face with a red rag,
Either deaf and dumb from punches is the Divine,
Either on Easter they were banned from Kremlin -
Old revelers should sit at the linen,
Birds should crawl, fish should sing, women - reason,
Horse on a horseman should ride out wild,
Wine should be given a newborn child,
Corpses carried out the window, rivers - burn,
In the midnight must arise the red sun,
The groom should the betrothed's name forget..
Ladies should love peasants yet.
x x x
Like blood and sweat it is simple:
To people - tsar, to tsar - people.
Like mystery of two it is clear:
The third is the spirit, the two are near.
From the sky tsar is placed on the throne:
That is clear like dream and snow.
To the throne tsar will come again yet:
It is holy like blood and sweat.
x x x
The rich man loved a poor woman,
The scientist loved a dumb woman,
The ruddy man loved a pale woman,
The kind man loved a bad woman,
And the gold a copper coin.
"Where, merchant, is your wealth all?"
"In a wallet that's full of holes!"
"Where, proud one, is what you know?"
"Under a girl's pillow."
"Where are your red cheeks, gorgeous sight?"
"Whitened down in the black night."
"Where is the cross with silver chain?"
"Under the girl's boots again."
Rich man don't love a poor woman,
Scientist don't love a dumb woman,
Ruddy man don't love a pale woman,
Kind man don't love a bad woman,
And the gold a copper coin.
x x x
I'm - now. You're - will be. An abyss between us.
I drink. You're thirsty. We cannot agree.
Ten years, oh no, a hundred thousand years
Do stand between us. God does not build bridges.
Be! - this is my demand. Let me walk past you
Without violating growth with my breath.
I'm - now. You're - will be. In ten springs from now
You will say "is!" - and I will say "sometime"...
x x x
Dying, I won't say: I was. There's no pity,
The culprits I don't seek.
There are more important things on earth
Than passions' storms and the lovers' feats.
Beating against this bosom with a wing,
You, the youthful inspiration's culprit,
I demand this of you: Be!
From obedience I will not flit.
x x x
Like right and left arms, here,
Your soul to my soul is near.
In bliss and warmth we to each other cling
Like right wing and left wing.
But whirlwind rises - and lay the abyss
From left to right between the wings!
x x x
Inept and aimless is my time:
I ask a beggar for a dime
I proffer cash to rich and famous,
Into the needle ray I weave,
Unto a robber key I give,
With whiting I am blushing paleness.
The bum puts nothing in my palms,
The rich man does not take my alms,
The needle won't let through the ray,
The robber enters without key,
Dumb woman weeps in streams of three
Over a fameless, empty day.
x x x
Who didn't build homes with his hand
Does not merit the land.
Who the homes did not build
The earth will not be:
Ash - Straw..
I did not build the home.
x x x
Cradle, that is wound up in red!
Cradle, that is rocked by the rabble!
Soldiers' thunder - by the evening - past the temples..
And beautiful will grow up the kid.
With the milk of wet nurse of Ryazan
He sucked in inheritance's good:
Flag - and the tri-unity of God.
Russian anthem - and space Russian.
In the needed day, by clear sun of God,
Duty he'll recall daughters and noble -
Cradle, that is rocked by the rabble!
Cradle, that is wound up in red!
x x x
I don't disturb, I do not sing
With a woman's poison. Hand
That is loyal I give to you -
Right one, that will hold the pen.
That, with which I form the cross
In the beauty of the night.
That, with which the things that God
Did command to me I write.
My left hand is daring,
Flattering and also sly.
Here to you the righteous
And right hand do proffer I.
From Cycle "Comedian"
1
It's not love, but fever! Light
Battle's sly and full of lies.
Now it's nauseous, next day sweet,
Now he's dead, next day alive.
Battle rages. Both are laughing:
How intelligent are they!
By both heroine and hero
I am charmed in every way.
Viewer, a battle - or a dance now?
This a sword - or cattle stick?
Step ahead - three steps back now,
Three steps forward - one step back.
Mouth like honey, in the eyes, trust,
But already raised, the brow.
It's hypocrisy, not love now,
It is acting, and not love!
And result of these (parentheses -
Uncommitted so far) sins -
Will be of astounding poems
A stack oh-so-very thin.
2
You can't be friends with me, you can't be loving me!
O beautiful eyes, look carefully!
A longboat has to sail, and the mill has to turn.
Is it for you to stop a heart as it whirls?
The notebook by the hand - you a mister won't be!
Is it not enough to sigh at comedy?
The cross of love is heavy - and we won't touch it.
Yesterday's day is gone - and we will keep it.
3
Your mouth is perfect for kisses, so tender..
And this is it, I am totally like a beggar.
Who am I now? Alone? No, many more!
A conqueror? A conquest, no!
If this be love - or if this be adoring,
A pen's caprice - or else an axiom,
If this be torment for the angels' home -
Or little bit of pretense by calling.
Sadness of soul, charming of eyes, or
The script of pen - is not the same it all,
How and until these lips will call
Your mouth, perfect for kisses, so tender.
4
You do not hope - how I am merry!
They're dull after the revelry.
You are the mister, I - the lady.
And mainly I am just like thee!
Don't be deceived! By evil chill
Within the throat you yourself know
That for your lips I had become
Just from the hills of Champagne, foam.
There are revelries full of gold.
And just is this my revelry:
Without the syrup of love's truth -
Champagne of love's lies only.
From Cycle "Poems to Sonya"
1
Who has left - let him sing! Heart,
Sing away!
Now the ruddy mouth is mine,
Yours - next day.
Ah, but everyone is friend
Of rose-beauty.
There are many such like you
And like me.
Friend will tear from a friend
Flower rose -
Rose can be torn apart: there's
Nothing worse.
Over the pink mouth to fight
Rather than -
Better is to kiss the boy
In his turn!
Hundred girlfriends has the friend -
We're all here.
While he is not taken yet
Do love him.
2
In the forest a bird chirped,
Under window, organ grinder.
"You're a liar, traitor,
You're a traitor, liar."
In the chorus sang
Devils from a barrel:
"All of you, my girl,
I sold for a dime."
Cows in the grass:
"You are having amoo-ours!"
Sheepdogs in an alley:
"Fool, aurs, aurs."
Lady with a beard
Thought herself to drown:
"That is nothing, babe!
Water'll bear you down!"
Comb your hair now,
Wash out your clear eyes.
One dear threw you down
And another'll raise!
3
The rain is knocking at my window.
The worker creaks at the machine.
I truly once was a street singer
And you were a nobleman's son.
I sang about the evil fortune,
And from the golden handrail
You gave not ruble and not kopeck -
You gave me as a gift a smile.
But the old knight the plan discovered:
He tore the medals from his son
And to servant-lackey he did order
To chase the girl from the yard.
And I got drunk within that night, too!
But in the blissful world - that -
I was the daughter of a nobleman
You were a singer on the street.
x x x
You won't chase me away anytime:
They don't push away the spring!
I too tenderly sing before sleep:
With a finger you won't push away me!
Never will you make me glorious:
Water for lips is my name!
You will never leave me either:
Door is open, empty is your home!
x x x
To rule troika and guitar
Means: to rule each ever
Lady, means: with old beer
To circle overhead!
O handsome one! Halfbreed!
Who baptized you? In what font?
All the gypsy snowstorms
Opened up your vest
O the brave guitarist!
Eh, I fear - your strings and hollows
Will discard me down to lie!
God be with you, driver Sergei!
Women are Russia and I!
x x x
That same youth, and these same holes,
And the same nights at the fire..
Sister of your own guitar
Is my divine, holy lyre.
To circle souls just like a snowstorm -
One is the gift that us befalls.
Into my sleeping crib is lowered
This title: Stealer of the souls!
Breaking the arms in angst, you know:
Not one alone in the day's fog
With poison gypsy broth of parting
The young noblemen you do drug.
Know: not alone on the sharp knife
You look with anguish in your blood
Know, I'm alone still.. we're sisters
In the great lowliness of love.
x x x
Who's made of stone, who's made of mud,
And I'm made from silver and shine.
My act is betrayal, my name is Marina,
The fragile sea foam am I.
Who is made from mud, who is made from flesh -
There's coffin and coffin plates..
Baptized in a sea font and unceasingly
Broken in my flight!
Through every heart, through every net
Will poke its head my will.
You will not make me the salt of the earth
Can you see these my loose curls?
I resurrect with each wave, pounding
Against your granite knees!
May be well the foam - the high foam -
The high foam of the seas!
x x x
I wrote on paled leaves of the fan
And on the board of slate
And on the river and sea sand,
On glass with a ring and on ice with skates -
And on the trunks, a hundred winters old,
And in the end - that everyone would know
That you are loved! Loved! Loved! Loved! -
I signed with a celestial rainbow.
How yet I wanted this, that each would bloom
For centuries with me! My fingers under!
And how thereafter I crossed out the name
Leaning my forehead on the table yonder.
But you, within the arm of sellout scribe
Pressed down! You, why you sting my soul?
Not sold by me! Inside the ring!
You - in the tablets will stay whole.
Two Songs
1
And what to tome is a chilled fire,
To whom the parting is a trade!
With one wave it has been brought near,
Removed with yet another wave.
Would I not with a servile anger
After my dear with a crawl creep -
I, borne to term within the belly
Not of my mother but the sea!
Bite, my dear friend, just like an apple
The entire sphere of the earth!
Conversing with a swelling water,
With me however you converse.
Like virgin born upon this planet
Won't cross the arms swinging free -
Daughter, carried within the belly
Not of your mother but the sea!
No, our girls do not weep, do not
Write, do not wait for news, yet
No, once again I go out fishing
Without drag-net, without a net!
What power is in my singing -
I alone do not know, you see -
I, borne to term within the belly
Not of my mother but the sea.
Such is my estate: I give
And give - for a whole century!
I am breaking my chest as I'm breaking
The stones that on the shore do lie!
What I mumble on a court simple,
As though an imprisoned queen -
I, borne to term in the belly
Not of my mother but the sea.
2
Yesterday you looked in my eyes,
And all things slant aside right now!
Yesterday you sat before birds
And now all larks turn into crows!
I'm dumb, and you are very smart,
You live, I'm stupefied, I hear.
O cry of women of all times:
"What have I done to you, my dear?!"
Tears are to her like water, blood -
Like water, washed in blood, in tears!
Don't wait for trial or mercy: love
Is stepmother, not Mom, it's clear.
Ships bear away the ones we love,
A white road them away now bears...
And stands the moan across all earth:
"What have I done to you, my dear?"
Yesterday you lay at my feet!
Compared to China! When both hands
You forced apart from fists to palms
Life fell out like a rusty cent!
At trial, as killer of a child
I stand - not dear, and full of fear.
And I will say to you in hell:
"What have I done to you, my dear?"
I'll ask the chair, I'll ask the bed:
"Why do I suffer and am poor?"
They answer "He has kissed - now break
Upon the wheel; now kiss one more."
To live he taught in fire itself,
He threw on icy steppes, austere!
What did you, dear, do to me?
What have I done to you, my dear?
I know all - do not contradict!
Seeing anew - no more the lover!
Where love no longer does exist,
There Death the gardener comes over.
Itself - why shake the tree? In time
Ripe apple falls itself, you near.
For all, for all forgive me please,
What have I done to you, my dear!
x x x
Wind, Oh wind, sweeping away things,
Sweeping tracks until they're gone!
Like a red bird flying, flying
Into foreheads of white stone.
Like a long-legged dog delving
Through the oat-bearing plains.
Wind, that loses his own mind
At a skirt that's made of lace!
It's a purple epidemic,
The first missive of revolt -
Wind - gallows-bird, flighty man -
In my fist you I now hold!
Play no more on turbid places,
Heads across the snow don't beat -
You are bound in my neckerchief
By your hands and by your feet!
We will settle obligations
For your not-so-careful deeds -
Wind inside red leather coat
With a star upon the head!
x x x
I desire no love and no honor:
They intoxicate - no falling away!
I don't even desire an apple
Tempting - from hawker's tray..
Something drags behind me like chain,
Soon the thunder will sound in the sky...
How I desire -
Oh how I desire -
Very quietly simply to die!
x x x
Others - with eyes or with face full of light,
And I converse with wind in the night.
Not with that Italian
Zephyr oh-so-young -
Russian, blow-through,
A good one, a wide one!
Others with all flesh are in the flesh lost,
Swallow the breath from dried out lips...
And I - arms wide open - like tetanus - stall
So that the Russian wind blow out my soul!
Others - o tangles tender and strong!
No, Aeolus is doing us wrong.
Perhaps you won't melt! It's just one family
As if I am not a woman truly.
x x x
June and July. Part of nightingale tremble.
And we had something of a bird's way, when
The night of the nightingale then disturbing
We - each over ourselves - were frozen.
August is tsar. It cares not for a roulade,
It only wants October cannonade.
August is tsar. You do not need the tsars,
And I without the tsar such ones do not need!
x x x
There's officer's straightness within my stature,
There's officer's honor within my ribs.
I go to all torments without being stubborn:
A so