"Black roses twine with crimson
In the flowers by my plate."
More Perihelion:
Bob Sward's Writer's Friendship Series
translated from the Russian by J. Kates
To Friends
I drink to the health of friends,
I drink to the health of friends,
Tears water the wine in my cup,
My cup, to the health of friends,
To the health of those near but far,
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Constant, however few,
In treacherous, lying days
Friends unwavering, true.
Distant, alone, but dear,
Friends alone as I am,
Breathing an alien air.
But the stream is pure and sweet;
Black roses twine with crimson
In the flowers by my plate.
Constant, however few,
In treacherous, lying days
Friends unwavering, true.
Those whom my heart still loves,
And remembering those who are
Buried in lonely graves.
J. Kates is a poet and literary translator who lives in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.
His translations of the Romantic Russian poets will be forthcoming in an anthology of international Romantic poetry
edited by Michael Ferber. An Anthology of European Romantic Poetry in Translation, Longman (US) 2004.