Giraffe Poem by Emil Sharafutdinov

The English translation of the famous poem 'Giraffe' by Nikolai Gumilev, murdered by Russian government in 1921

Today, I can see, your gaze is remarkably sad
And your hands, embracing your knees, are remarkably thin.
Listen: far, far away, by Lake Chad
There is an exquisite giraffe wandering.

Graceful slenderness and languor are given to him
And a magical pattern covers his hide,
To equal which only the moon would dare to dream,
Fragmenting and swaying upon a vast tide.

He looks like a colored sail of a ship from a distance
And his stride is as fluid as a joyous bird's flight.
I know the earth has much wonder to witness,
When he hides in his marble grotto at night.

I know cheerful tales of a mysterious folk
About an ebony maiden and the passion of a young chieftain,
But you for too long have inhaled heavy fog,
You want to believe in nothing but rain.

And how am I to tell you about slender palm trees,
About the smell of unthinkable herbs, about a tropical orchard
- You're crying? Listen… far, far away, there is
The exquisite giraffe wandering by Lake Chad.