Not seeing, still we know by Emily Dickinson

Не видя, знаю всё ж...
Смекну, не знав...
А нет - с улыбкой затаю,
Пунцом нежна...

И трепеща - в отшат,
В безгрешный страх...
То Змею наущать:
"Дерзнёшь ли брать?"



(Весьма ценный Прист, если не обращаться к оригиналу в Архиве:
This is the whole of a letter (L741) of late 1881 to Mrs Edward
Tuckerman, apart from the opening sentence, which reads, ‘Vinnie
asked me if I had any Message for you, and while I was picking
it, you ran away.’ It looks as though Mrs Tuckerman called one
day. Vinnie came into Emily’s room to ask if she had any message
for their caller. While Emily was picking a flower from her
conservatory to be her message, Mrs Tuckerman ran away. So Emily
sent her this poem. It is a diminuendo in which Emily says:
if we don’t see each other, we know the warmth of our friendship.
Or, if we don’t know, we can guess it. And if we don’t even guess
that it exists, we can smile at the possibility, half hiding it
and half caressing it, and quaking with a joyful fear, and
wondering if we dare confess it, much as the serpent cunningly
suggested to Eve that she didn’t dare eat the fruit of the tree.)

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Not seeing, still we know -- by Emily Dickinson

Not seeing, still we know --   
Not knowing, guess --          
Not guessing, smile and hide   
And half caress --             

And quake -- and turn away,    
Seraphic fear --               
Is Eden's innuendo             
"If you dare"?