Valery Bryusov

Three apples -- sagas' favorite selection,
Three symbols of rebellion on the earth,
In endless gardens of imagination,
They burn and shudder in illusions' breath.

Oh, you, an apple -- the first peoples' lure,
You took the Eden's light of those two,
You sent on heads of people the Lord's fury,
But this was a revolt against taboo.

The apple-witness of the Tell's perfection --
The song of freedom flew above the earth;
First arrow, he'd sent to his creation,
Born second one, that carried tyrants' death.

And that third one -- the Newton's apple, gold,
In its right time, it played its last accord,
And mind embraced the substance of the law,
That moves the earth, the heaven and the world.

That apple had returned to people Eden,
Made equal all -- a muster and a slave,
It opened roads to the treasures hidden,
To make us fighters, ever strong and brave.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, September, 2000