Без чьих-то жизней прожила б,
Судив без горечи —
Другие — что желанны — мне
Присущи — Вечности —
Они — скупы по счёту —
Дойду до цифры "два" —
Но горизонта мошки
Иным достичь едва —
372
I know lives, I could miss
Without a Misery —
Others — whose instant's wanting —
Would be Eternity —
The last — a scanty Number —
'Twould scarcely fill a Two —
The first — a Gnat's Horizon
Could easily outgrow —
Emily Dickinson
Прим. переводчика:
В этом стихотворении Дикинсон имеет в виду дорогих для нее людей — Самуэля Боулза (Samuel Bowles) и Сьюзeн Гилберт (Susan Gilbert). В своем письме Боулзy (L275) она писала: " How extraordinary that Life's large population contain so few of power of us."
The last two lines are a bit ambiguous: could the number of lives missed "Without a Misery" "easily outgrow" the gnat's horizon? If so, then the expendable lives could easily outgrow a radius of, say, a couple of feet (the scope of a bumblebee, according to one source). That's a small base to start with and although the phrasing doesn't limit the number of people, it doesn't necessarily follow that it includes almost everyone the poet knows. It might as easily mean ten people as a hundred.
Стихи.ру 14 января 2015 года