Текст песни Иосиф Бродский - Прощайте, мадмуазель Вероника

Farewell Mademoiselle VERONICA

I

If I end my days under the wing of a dove
which is quite real, since the meat grinder
become a luxury of small nations -
after many combinations
Mars moves closer to palm trees;
but I myself won't touch a fly
even at its peak, in July -
in a word, if I don't die from a bullet,
if I die in bed, in pajamas,
for I belong to a great power,

II

then in twenty years, when my offspring,
unable to buy a laurel gleam,
will be able to earn himself, I dare
leave your family - through
twenty years old, surrounded by care
because of insanity, to a house with a pharmacy
I'll come on foot if I have enough strength
for the only thing about you in Russia
will remind me. Though against the rules
to return for what the other left.

III

This in the sphere of morals will be considered progress.
In twenty years I'll come for a chair
on which you sat in front of me
on the day when for Christ's body
the crucifixes of torment ended -
on the fifth day of Passion, you sat, hands
crossed like Buonaparte on the Elbe.
And at all the crossroads the willows were white.
You put your hands on the green of your dress
without risking to open them into arms.

IV

This position, with all the amiability,
this is the best gem for our life.
And she is by no means immobility. It -
the apotheosis in ourselves of the subject:
replacing humility with simple peace.
That is, a new kind of Christianity, by which
duty to cherish and stand guard
those who must be capable, even
when Gabriel comes with the trumpet,
continue the dead object!

V

It is not customary for prophets to be healthy.
Diviners in the masses are crippled. In a word,
I am no more sighted than Nazonov Kalkhas.
Because to divine is like a cactus
or to bring snapdragons to the visor.
It's like learning the alphabet in Braille.
Hopelessly. Items at least
like you touch, in the world,
as they say, the cat cried.
What is your sacrifice, such is the oracle.

VI

You will surely forgive me this
gaiter tone. This is the best method
strong feelings save from the masses
the weak. Greek mask principle
in use again. For in our time
the strong perish. Whereas the tribe
weak - breeds both separately and in bulk.
Accept today as my postscript
to Darwin's theory so withered
this new truth of the jungle.

Vii

In twenty years, for it is easier to remember
what is missing, how to make up
it is something else outside;
for lack of right is worse
than your absence, - the new Gogol,
I will be able to see enough, no doubt, plenty,
without looking back, without the former fear, -
like a magic lantern of Christ Easter
revives to the sound of tap water
the back of the chair is as empty as a canvas screen.

VIII

There is greatness in our past. In the future - prose.
For there is no more demand from an empty chair,
than with you, La Garda sitting in it is quieter,
hands folded, as I wrote above.
However, in the sum of its, our days embrace
much less outstretched arms of the crucifix.
So this find a lame singer
now, on Passionate Sixty-Seventh,
a kind of veto looms before me
for jumping in the nineties of the century.

IX

If that bird doesn't save me
that is, if she does not lay eggs,
and in this labyrinth without Ariadne
(for death has options,
to foresee which is also valor)
I will stay alone and, alas, I will be honored
cholera, denunciation, sending to the camp,
then - unless it's a lie that Lazarus
was resurrected, then I myself will be resurrected.
The sooner, you know, I will approach the chair.

X

However, haste is stupid and sinful. Vale!
That is, there is nowhere to be in such a hurry. Hardly
a strong chair can be ruined.
For we, in the East, have furniture
serves three generations in a row.
And I exclude fire and theft.
Scary that they can mix it with a bunch
others when cleaning. In this case
I am even ready to make notches,
depicting doves doves.

XI

Now let it circle like bees in hives,
along the common orbits of tables and chairs
your armchair in the night dining room.
Brand - n