Anna Akhmatova:
English translation by Carol V. Davis
English and Russian
The Guest
Everything is as before: against the dining room windows
beats a fine driven snow.
I have not changed,
but a man came to me.
I asked: "What do you want?"
He said, "To be with you in hell."
I laughed, "Oh you predict we'll most
likely both come to grief."
He raised his dry hand
and touched the flowers, as if in passing:
"Tell me how they kiss you,
tell me how you kiss them."
And his dull eyes stared,
not taking them off my ring.
Not one muscle moved
in his bright, malicious face.
Oh I know: his joy is that he knows
intensely and fervently
that he needs nothing from me
and that I can refuse him nothing.
Jan. 1, 1914
Гость Анны Ахматовой
Все, как раньше: в окна столовой
Вьется мелкий метельный снег,
И сама я не стала новой,
А ко мне приходил человек.
Я спросила:« Чего ты хочешь?»
Он сказал: «Быть с тобой в аду».
Я смеялась: «Ах, напророчишь
Нам обоим, пожалуй, беду».
Но поднявши руку сухую,
Он слега потрогал цветы:
«Расскажи, как тебя целуют,
Расскажи, как целуюешь ты».
И глаза, глядевшие тускло,
Не свободил с моего кольца.
Ни одни не двинулся мускул
Просветленно-злого лица.
О, я знаю: его отрада –
Напреженно и страстно знатъ,
Что ему ничего не надо,
Что мне не в чем ему сказать.
1 Января 1914
English translation: Copyright (C) Carol V. Davis, 2008. All rights reserved.
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