R.Rozhdestvensky, The Clocks - Translation (Rus.) Poem by Lyudmila Purgina

The clocks
by Robert Rozhdestvensky

- The clocks are going...
- Is that unusual discovery? -
That is the sign of their right work...
If you had bought them- carry...

- I'm not about that!
Look at the street:
there on the morning ground
the clocks are going!
Not heard, inaudible
are hasting minutes,
And knocking in my door.
The clocks are going
You can't miss them,
You, the living one,
can't them avoid...
The hours of short life of a man,
Look, -
I would surely outwit you!
I shall run into house.
I shall close the door, true.
Knock then the door, -
I shan't it open! ..

You'll bury, close, ban to enter,
even the clocks presented to you
will break all,
you will forget the time
and friends, as well,
and stop the talking,
nothing you'll remember.
Being so proud of the cosy silence
of your flat
And shining with your own cunning,

be quick
and barricade the doors! ..

But hour
will come!
Inevitable hour.
In any season of the year
it will step to
your step on
your thpoughts,
your lazy dreams. The hour will step on
your heart and throat...
And, scared for yourself,
you'll wake up! ..
And wet wind will break then the window.
And leaves will rush
in drops of dew...

You'll hear -
clocks are beating!
And then you'll feel -
the hours
strike
a blow swinging!

1960