Letters
Mykola Zerov
Mykola Zerov
From the cycle Kyiv
Kyiv seen from the Left Bank
I greet you, golden-headed dreamer
On the blue mounts… Lost in dream, in thought,
And the bright blaze of our scarlet days
Shines not for you, oh younger one.
Your days of glory are long gone,
So weeps the hundred-voiced brass of bells
It augurs it will not return, the blessed moment
Of your blossom, bloom, and prime.
But stop on these sands, wanderer,
Look at the chimeras of baroque domes,
At the white columns of Schädel’s miracle:
The life’s alive, and there’s still strength
In this green and dreamy mount,
In this gold-nailed azure.
1923
Kyiv in a Spring Evening
Though you were built by clumsy hermocopides
And bad taste of hapless architects,
And fires left their trace upon you, –
Yet still you stand so heartsome and breezy.
With good reason, the guides praise
Your beauty, your most treasured gift,
The blues of waters, the greens of ravines
Spread in blinding landscapes.
And the sight may follow your streets
Into the fresh air, into the sweet expanse,
Where the wind walks – lofty and drunk;
And in the eve of night, on a tranquil hour,
Old chestnut trees chat in a dignified manner
And lift myriads blossom-candles to the sky.
9.06.1928
(Mykola Zerov. Collected Works: in 2 vol., vol. I. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1990, p. 27–28.)