Jenny Wade

Ты
Пришла—
деловито,
за рыком,
за ростом,
взглянув,
разглядела просто мальчика.
Взяла,
отобрала сердце
и просто
пошла играть—
как девочка мячиком.
И каждая—
чудо будто видится—
где дама вкопалась,
а где девица.
«Такого любить?
Да этакий ринется!
Должно, укротительница.
Должно, из зверинца!»
А я ликую.
Нет его—
ига!
От радости себя не помня,
скакал,
индейцем свадебным прыгал,
так было весело,
было легко мне.

You
Walked up—
businesslike,
behind my roar,
behind my height,
took one look,
and saw I was just a boy.
Without a second thought,
you took my heart away
and simply
went off to play—
like a girl with a ball.
And every one–
as if witnessing a miracle–
here a lady is rooted to the ground,
over there, a girl.
“Love someone like that?
That kind will pounce on you!
She must be a lion tamer.
She must be from the zoo!”
But I was rejoicing.
It’s gone—
that burden!
Out of my mind with joy,
I was jumping,
I was leaping like an Indian at a wedding,
that’s how happy I felt,
how light.

–Vladimir Mayakovsky, translated by Jenny Wade

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