Нюркина Песня [Nyurkina Pesnya] [English translation]

A girl spread out rags on the floor,

Scattered cards-clubs about the corners,

A girl lost her joy come spring,

Forgot earrings-necklaces on her visits.

White light hits the eyes like sharp dust,

White verse hits the ears like an off-key warble,

White snow mantles the fields like a tattered shawl,

Whit dream comes in the mornings like a tired moth.

A wall of female truth unfolded,

Silence started weeping and rocking,

Spreading through alien simple words like through hands,

Through tripping feet, all over others.

Old tea in a cracked glass,

Old deeds aren't enough to take off,

Photographs are full of stars and dreams,

How do you make everyone happy?

All that was, all that I remembered,

Was wiped off the sill by a kitten's tail,

Suitors were bringing cognac,

Suitors were telling me what's what.

Chase away those who sit under the window ,

Night chill rises from the Ob river,

Think more often of your sun,

It's not the wind that bends the branch,

Not the forest that howls.