Phantom Tram

I walked down a stranger’s street, 
Heard the crows cry, harsh and fleet, 
Distant thunders, a lute’s refrain, 
And a tram came flying through the rain. 
 
How I jumped upon its side, 
Even I can’t quite confide, 
It left a flaming trail on air, 
In daylight’s blaze, a ghostly flare. 

It rode like a storm on a shadowed wing, 
Lost in time, in a swirling ring — 
Conductor, oh please, I’m slipping, I’m gone, 
Conductor, please — stop the tram! Hold on! 

But it’s too late, we passed the stone, 
Palms and rivers, all unknown, 
Neva, Nile, and Seine as one, 
Over three bridges we thundered on. 
 
By the window, someone stared, 
A beggar’s eyes, hollow and bared, 
The one who died in Beirut’s night, 
Looked through us with a haunting light. 
 
Where am I now, so faint, afraid? 
My heart beats heavy, dismayed, 
A station sign, a crimson threat, 
Spirit’s India waits ahead. 
 
A blood-red sign in a rotten stall, 
Instead of cabbage or carrots at all, 
They sell dead heads on a slippery tray, 
The heads of the lost in pale decay. 
 
The headsman in crimson, face like clay, 
Cut off mine too, threw it away, 
With others there in the reeking bin, 
I saw my face at the very end. 
 
Past a gray fence and house of three, 
On the street where you once sang free, 
Conductor, please, don’t let it run, 
Conductor, stop — stop the tram! 
 
Masha, you lived and sang your art, 
Wove me carpets with a bride’s heart, 
Where is your voice, your gentle skin, 
Have you too died in the world’s din? 
 
While you moaned in your bridal room, 
I powdered my braid for a courtly groom, 
Went to greet the Empress proud, 
And never saw you in that crowd. 
 
Now I know what freedom means, 
A shaft of light from far-off dreams, 
People and shadows at a gate, 
To the zoo of planets, they stand and wait. 

A sweet wind rushes over the bridge, 
Iron-gloved horseman, along the ridge, 
Isaac stands with faithful might, 
I’ll pray there for her, and for my night. 
 
Forever heavy, my heart’s refrain, 
Hard to breathe through all this pain, 
Masha, I never thought I’d find, 
Such love, such sorrow, within my mind.

Translation of the poem «Lost tram»
("Заблудившийся трамвай") by Nikolay Gumilev (1919)

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You can listen to the song via the link:
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/jtUOFE2qWRoXbA