Yet Another Poetic Rendition out of Brodsky

By Joseph A.Brodsky

The English Poetic Rendition by Anna Polibina-Polansky

In August

Small towns don't tell the entire truth into your ear.

It all is yesterday, so there is no caring, nor threating, nor fear.

Elm-trees rustle about, and the andscape agrees.

The train explores it, as well as the buzzing bees.

The lord keeps His thrift from crossroads and traffic lights.

The mirror of river reminds your juvenile acquaintances' sights.

So the shatters are shut up onto the sultry ivy of rumors

Ever ready for battles. The phrases comprise no humor.

A tanned teenager running out in underpants

To a front room, steals your future awy; it is undermeant.

Long dusk marks the railway square with statues at mares.

The cursing eyes can get milder in crowds, yet missing there.

January, 1996; Milan - transl. July, 2020, Moscow