"Ты посмотрел бы,
что я увидел на пути,
По лугу Мортенсона вчера пришлось пройти:
Там ягоды черники с твой палец небольшой,
Лазурные, крутые, как в барабан тугой
В глубокое ведёрко стучат, тем, кто придёт!
Там, тот кто половчее, зелёных не нарвёт,
Но лишь отборных спелых! И лучше, чем в саду!"
-"Не знаю что за луг имеете в виду."
Ты знаешь, корчевали там рощу – подожди,
Два года, или точно, побольше позади?
А осенью тогда же, я помню пал сплошной,
Как выжигали сучья, огонь стоял стеной."
"Да, не было там шансов кустарнику расти,
Хотя с черникой это могло произойти:
Возможно, поначалу и не было примет,
Ни тени сосен прежних, и ничего там нет.
Да, сосны все исчезли, а после них пожар,
Что пастбищу уступка, лесной траве удар,
Не говоря о соснах,- но всех живей ростки,
Раз-два и всё готово, и прут уже прутки,
Как фокусы и трюки умеют мастаки.
На угле и золе жиреет там трава,
Я сажи аромат испытывал сперва.
В конце концов там всюду – сгоревшие дрова:
Туман – дыханье ветра и неба синева,
Налёт оставит в пальцах подобием следов,
Загара трудового у сборщиков плодов.
И тем, кому охота — все знают то, что он
Не будет, ни артачиться, ни поминать закон,
Как повод, понимая народ у нас таким"
"Не появлялся ль Лоренс недавно рядом с ним?quot;
"Да, повезло б не видеть. А знаете ли вы,
Шёл просто к пустырю я, узнать на счёт травы
Там, у тропы, зелёный я присмотрел квадрат ,
Когда здесь появился наш местный демократ.
Из болтунов зелёных наш Лоренс всех живей,
Но пусть тот Лоренс катится по улице своей."
"Тебя он видел? Глянул? Не хмурился ли он? "
"Он только головой кивал, то вверх, то вниз как слон,
Вы знаете, как вежливо проходит он всегда,
И скажет что –то умное, не видит в том вреда,
И очень удивился бы, почувствовав подвох.
Оставил эти ягоды, догадкою не плох,
Пусть созревают дольше. Я очень виноват."
"Он бережливей многих, кого назвать бы рад."
”Он, вроде экономный, но и есть ли в том нужда,
Чтоб молодым всем Лоренсам в рот падала еда?
Он их привёл к чернике, как люди говорят,
Как птиц. И много ягод с тех пор они хранят.
Они едят весь год их, а кто доесть не смог,
Сдал в магазин, взял обувь хорошую для ног.”
”Кто так бы не старался? Хороший способ жить,
Когда берёшь, что может Природа предложить,
Не опуская в землю ни борону, ни плуг.”
”Желаю вам почуять за жизнь свою испуг –
И воздух молодёжи! Никто из них не злой,
Для них одна нелепость абсурдная – покой.
Blueberries "YOU ought to have seen what I saw on my way To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day: Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb, Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum In the cavernous pail of the first one to come! And all ripe together, not some of them green And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!" "I don't know what part of the pasture you mean." "You know where they cut off the woods—let me see— It was two years ago—or no!—can it be No longer than that?—and the following fall The fire ran and burned it all up but the wall." "Why, there hasn't been time for the bushes to grow. That's always the way with the blueberries, though: There may not have been the ghost of a sign Of them anywhere under the shade of the pine, But get the pine out of the way, you may burn The pasture all over until not a fern Or grass-blade is left, not to mention a stick, And presto, they're up all around you as thick And hard to explain as a conjuror's trick." "It must be on charcoal they fatten their fruit. I taste in them sometimes the flavour of soot. And after all really they're ebony skinned: The blue's but a mist from the breath of the wind, A tarnish that goes at a touch of the hand, And less than the tan with which pickers are tanned." "Does Mortenson know what he has, do you think?" "He may and not care and so leave the chewink To gather them for him—you know what he is. He won't make the fact that they're rightfully his An excuse for keeping us other folk out." "I wonder you didn't see Loren about." "The best of it was that I did. Do you know, I was just getting through what the field had to show And over the wall and into the road, When who should come by, with a democrat-load Of all the young chattering Lorens alive, But Loren, the fatherly, out for a drive." "He saw you, then? What did he do? Did he frown?" "He just kept nodding his head up and down. You know how politely he always goes by. But he thought a big thought—I could tell by his eye— Which being expressed, might be this in effect: 'I have left those there berries, I shrewdly suspect, To ripen too long. I am greatly to blame.'" "He's a thriftier person than some I could name." "He seems to be thrifty; and hasn't he need, With the mouths of all those young Lorens to feed? He has brought them all up on wild berries, they say, Like birds. They store a great many away. They eat them the year round, and those they don't eat They sell in the store and buy shoes for their feet." "Who cares what they say? It's a nice way to live, Just taking what Nature is willing to give, Not forcing her hand with harrow and plow." "I wish you had seen his perpetual bow— And the air of the youngsters! Not one of them turned, And they looked so solemn-absurdly concerned." "I wish I knew half what the flock of them know Of where all the berries and other things grow, Cranberries in bogs and raspberries on top Of the boulder-strewn mountain, and when they will crop. I met them one day and each had a flower Stuck into his berries as fresh as a shower; Some strange kind—they told me it hadn't a name." "I've told you how once not long after we came, I almost provoked poor Loren to mirth By going to him of all people on earth To ask if he knew any fruit to be had For the picking. The rascal, he said he'd be glad To tell if he knew. But the year had been bad. There had been some berries—but those were all gone. He didn't say where they had been. He went on: 'I'm sure—I'm sure'—as polite as could be. He spoke to his wife in the door, 'Let me see, Mame, we don't know any good berrying place?' It was all he could do to keep a straight face. "If he thinks all the fruit that grows wild is for him, He'll find he's mistaken. See here, for a whim, We'll pick in the Mortensons' pasture this year. We'll go in the morning, that is, if it's clear, And the sun shines out warm: the vines must be wet. It's so long since I picked I almost forget How we used to pick berries: we took one look round, Then sank out of sight like trolls underground, And saw nothing more of each other, or heard, Unless when you said I was keeping a bird Away from its nest, and I said it was you. 'Well, one of us is.' For complaining it flew Around and around us. And then for a while We picked, till I feared you had wandered a mile, And I thought I had lost you. I lifted a shout Too loud for the distance you were, it turned out, For when you made answer, your voice was as low As talking—you stood up beside me, you know." "We sha'n't have the place to ourselves to enjoy— Not likely, when all the young Lorens deploy. They'll be there to-morrow, or even to-night. They won't be too friendly—they may be polite— To people they look on as having no right To pick where they're picking. But we won't complain. You ought to have seen how it looked in the rain, The fruit mixed with water in layers of leaves, Like two kinds of jewels, a vision for thieves."
Я на былинку бросил беглый взгляд, Остановить её я был бы рад. Лениво ползало перо моё, Надёжно отражая бытиё. Её дыханьем ветра принесло Былинка, испытай-ка ремесло, Которому я сам, о чём твержу, Всю жизнь служу, и этим дорожу. А где страница, там живая боль, - Ты тоже испытать её изволь. Перо мгновенно замерло. И вот По строчкам тварь разумная ползёт И лист пересекает поперёк, Её ведут четыре пары ног. Она пыталась жизнь свою спасти, Но, видимо, мне с ней не по пути. И вот застыла в капельках чернил, И замерла, а я ещё следил За ней и думал, в чём я виноват? Я не мучитель и не супостат, И я не знаю, в чём моя вина, Поскольку жизнь трагична и темна.
В любом обличье разум вижу я, Не в этом ли жестокость бытия, Что жизнь и боль всегда таится там, Где провожу пером я по листам?
Помочь сайту
Поздравления
