Maksim Bahdanovič Poems

(Triolet)

You were, like the moon, alone:
You lonely lived, you lonely died.
Though wide the world with people sown,
...

Venus, new-risen above the broad skyline,
Brings with her bright-shining memories of love.
Do you recall, when we met for the first time
Venus new-risen above?
...

Once upon a working day in summer-time
I passed through a village. In a dreary line
On both sides of the winding narrow lane, the houses
Stood there, grey, decayed, like old rags, dull and frowsty;
...

(Triolet)

No statues did Cellini hew
But only statuettes.
...

From native home, from native tillage,
To the Big House, for beauty's sake,
Luckless girls taken from their village,
Girdles of woven gold to make.
...

Above the white down of the cherries,
Like blue fire, soaring high,
Cleaving, weaving pathways, light and
Swift — a blue-winged butterfly.
...