Vsevolod Rojdestvensky

I didn’t seek the other fortune’s favor,
This vague inspiration’s not in vain.
But for all that I’d experienced ever,
I’d in full price paid with my heart’s pain.

And, with earthly sadness, a full-ripened
Grape bunch, I hang now, in my last,
On a breast of the transparent garden
Slow-swinging in the sunny dust.

All that was my struggle’s and pride’s motion,
All that made my world a new and close, 
Now for me, is roar of the ocean
And full-emptiness of the ringing shores. 

How long I was to ripe and wear
Just for that: among the willows, bend,
Having gone from earth, to come back here,
Bringing the life’s circle to its end.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, October 26, 2004