N.Gumilyov, The Ballad - Translation (Rus.) Poem by Lyudmila Purgina

By Nikolai Gumilyov

The Ballad

I was granted by chance
With five horses at once
By my friend Lucifer and with ring,
Gold ring with a Ruby on it.
That for purpose to slip
Down into the deep
Of the caves, and to see
There young face of heavens within.
Snorting horses were hoofing,
Trying me thus to lure
To the vast space of earth race in fury...
And therefore I believed,
That a Sun inflamed me,
Only me, as a Ruby in ring.
Many a starry night
Did I rove, and many days,
Fired with sun's bright light,
And without the end
Of the way.
I've smiled to the impulse of mighty such horses,
I've enjoyed glint of ring,
I've rushed them to heaven -
There in height of the consciousness -
Only insanity. Snowfall there...
Cracking horses by whip,
I've forced them to raise..
There in heavens I've seen
Maid with a doleful face.
In her silent weak voice
I've heard chime of strings...
In her strange look - the choice
Questions-answers to join.
And I gave her a ring
To this Moon-like a Virgin
For unsteady fine tint
On the plaits incoherent.
Laughing, mocking at me, Lucifer after that
Let it open door to the darkness so deep.
And presented the six gift -
The another horse black...
The Despair - the name was of it...