Зимородок | страница 46

When the lilac bush in the back yard

Bursts into bloom.

All at once

Innumerable flowers open their petals.

They flood the midday heat,

The delicate coolness of twilight

With wave upon wave of sweetness and longing.

Three days, four…

Then it all subsides,

Blends back in —

Green into green.

When I was young,

I used to think

The blooming of lilacs is fleeting.

Каждую весну приходит день,

Когда куст сирени в углу двора

Расцветает.

Бесчисленные лепестки

Открываются все сразу,

Затопляя тёплый полдень

И хрупкую прохладу сумерек

Волнами сладости и томленья.

Три-четыре дня – и всё утихает,

Смешивается с фоном —

Зелёное среди зелёного.

Когда я была молодой,

Цветение сирени

Казалось мне мимолётным.

Vilanelle’s meter and rhyme,

The 5-7-5 of haiku,

Sonnet’s surprising volta,

Limerick’s knowing laughter

Chant what cannot be said,

Steady the beat of the heart,

Rock the cradle of “never”

As “never” grows into “after”.

Из самых глубоких ран в рифму слова текут,

Пульсирует чёрный ток анапестом, ямбом, хореем…

Не верлибр, а сонет – услада горчайших минут.

Мы тем складнее бредим, чем тяжелее болеем.

A blackbird – a magpie —

Cooked porridge in a cauldron,

Sat down with her children.

Filled this one’s bowl,

Filled this one’s bowl,

Filled this one’s bowl,

Filled this one’s bowl.

But that one got a scolding:

“You didn’t fetch the water,

You didn’t bring the coal —

You don’t get any porridge

To fill your bowl!”

Beneath an oak a sow pigged out on acorns,

Then napped under the shady canopy.

At last, refreshed, she set her snout to digging,

Baring the roots that fed the ancient tree.

“Stop! Stop!” called out a raven from the branches.

“The oak tree’s roots get damaged when you dig.”

“What do I care if this useless stump does wither?

Acorns are all I’m after,” said the pig.

The oak tree’s voice then joined the conversation.

“Ingrate!” said to the swine the mighty tree,

“If you could lift your snout up from your grubbing,

You’d see that all the acorns come from me.”

—

An ignoramus mocking education,

Scoffing at science, is blind just like that sow,

Failing to see that on the tree of knowledge

Ripened the comforts he’s enjoying now.

Said a termite to a termite:

“Yes, I really was determined

To be disciplined and try it —