Nikolay Gumilev

I wait for, full of thoughts provoking,  
But not a gay and pretty wife,
Not the sincere and gentle talking
About the old time and life.

And not a mistress: I am bored
With languor whispers, languor looks,
And with delights, a lot and more, 
And more tortures that I took.

I wait for him, who’s sent by Deities,
Who is my friend by sacred rights, 
Because my heart has pined for centuries
For silence and for heaven’s heights.

And how wrong was he, the merciless, 
Who lost eternity at once,
By taking for the iron fetters,
The dreams that were uniting us.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, May, 2000
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, December, 2000