Bulat Okudjava

I fancied the Muse of the Irony,
for this ever-cheerless earth.
I gave her the boundless colony:
for soaring, romping and mirth.

The daughters of Zeus, which are ever-blessed
and proud with their father Zeus, –
though posed as the wisest and cleverest,
are nothing without my muse.  


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, September, 2002