Text 75

Иосиф Бродский

* * *

Ниоткуда с любовью, надцатого мартобря,

дорогай уважаемый милая, но не важно

даже кто, ибо черт лица, говоря

откровенно, не вспомнить уже, не ваш, но

и ничей верный друг вас приветствует с одного

из пяти континентов, держащегося на ковбоях;

я любил тебя больше, чем ангелов и самого,

и поэтому дальше теперь от тебя, чем от них обоих;

поздно ночью, в уснувшей долине, на самом дне,

в городке, занесенном снегом по ручку двери,

извиваясь ночью на простыне –

как не сказано ниже по крайней мере –

я взбиваю подушку мычащим "ты"

за морями, которым конца и края,

в темноте всем телом твои черты,

как безумное зеркало повторяя.

Joseph Brodsky

* * *

From nowhere with love the enth of Marchember sir

sweetie respected darling but in the end

it's irrelevant who for memory won't restore

features not yours and no one's devoted friend

greets you from this fifth last part of earth

resting on whale like backs of cowherding boys

I loved you better than angels and Him Himself

and am father off due to that from you than I am from both

of them now late at night in the sleeping vale

in the little township up to its doorknobs in

snow writing upon the stale

sheets for the whole matter's skin –

deep I'm howling "youuu" through my pillow dike

many seas always that are milling nearer

with my limbs in the dark playing your double like

an insanity-stricken mirror.

* * *

From nowhere with love, on the –eenth of Marchember,

dear respectful my darling, doesn't matter

even who, for the face, speaking frankly,

is impossible to remember, not yours, and

no one's best friend, sends his regards being on one

of the five continents, related to cow-boys;

I loved you more than angels and even Himself

and am further from you now, then from them both;

late at night, in the sleeping valley, in its very pit,

In a town buried up to the knobs,

twisting at night on the blank bed-sheet –

as not mentioned below at least, – with a throb

I whip up the pillow by moaning "you"

form beyond the seas, its shores connecting

in the dark, with my body your body through

all it's features, as a crazy mirror, reflecting.

Chapter VI