New stanzas to Augusta, VI, VII

                "Новые стансы к Августе"
                (Иосиф Бродский)



                VI
Knock, squish and chew the rotten bridge.
Let the besieging the cemetery abyss
suck out the paint of the crosspiece.
But even so the grassy fringe
can't to the swamp a blue increase...
Rampage among the foliage still dense,
trample the shed,
invade with roots the depths!
And there, as here inside my chest, expose,
wake up all ghosts and dead,
and let them run away, cutting across 
the stubble to deserted villages,
and waving to the flocked days
like hats of scarecrows!


               VII
Here on the hills among deserted skies,
where all the routs
lead to the forest only, here life shies
away from self and looks at forms around
with amazement. And the roots
with sniff cling to my boots,
and all the country lights go out.
And now I'm wandering in no man's land
and asking for a lease from Nothingness,
and the wind tears warmth off my hand,
and over me tree's hollow water sprays,
and mud twists pathway's strand.