Jose Maria de Heredia - Seashell

Виктор Постников
SEASHELL

Immersed in what deep surge,
You've spent a horde of winters?
(You’d better know them not,
a child of azure waves!)
What fathomless abyss
your fragile nacre embraced?
How many miles you roamed
across the bluish haze ?
But now, far-off from waves,
You summon peace and rest
On stationary sands.
In vain! The call of waves,
As distant Cymbal call,
Still lures you with a wrench
That never can be tamed.
My soul – is just like you,
Like in your curls, there lives
A restless, distant call;
There, in the heart, a conch,
Is sounding dull and slow;
Reminding me of Her.


(C) Trans. by V.Postnikov, 2004