The Battle with the Beast на стихи Лермонтова

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"The Battle with the Beast"


…Stepped out on a sandy glade.
Suddenly two fiery sparks and dark shadow
Rushed by… And then
A beast leaped out      
From the thicket and laid down
Playing on its back upon the sand.

It was a huge snow leopard -
The wilderness’ eternal guest.
A raw bone it gnawed,
And purred wagging its tail,
Bloodshot eyes gazed
At the full moon,
And with silver shone its fur…

I seized a horned branch. I awaited
The moment of the battle.
My heart felt thirst for blood and struggle…
Oh, yet my fate
Led me another way,
But now I bet
I would have been the daring one
In my homeland…

I watched. And then he noticed me –
His foe… And a howl,
Long and plaintive as a moan,
He uttered… Angrily
Digging the sand with his paw,
Reared up, crouched low,
And his first and rabid burst –
Could crush me down…
But I struck first.
Exact and fast I was.
My sturdy branch, as an axe,
His wide forehead slashed.
He groaned like a man
And back he fell. And though
The thick blood like a wave
Gushed out of the wound
Anew the deadly battle raged on!

He rushed upon my chest,
But in his throat I stabbed
My weapon… and turned it twice -
He let out wailing cry,
But lunged with his last strength,
So we, entwined like a pair of snakes,
As tight as good old friends,
We fell at once, and in the dark
The battle raged upon the ground.

And at that moment, full of ire,
As a beast I was so mad and wild,
Like him I blazed and screamed;
As though I were born amid
The wolves’ and leopards’ dens,
Under fresh crown of forests.
It seemed I had forgotten then
The human voice. And my chest gave
An eerie scream, as if since I was born
My tongue
Knew no other sound…

But my foe’s strength began to fail
He tossed, and breathing heavily,
He squeezed me for the last time...
His staring eyes
Flashed with a terrifying threat,
Then slowly closed forevermore;
But facing his exultant foe,
Like true warrior he met his death
Face to face!..


Перевод: http://stihi.ru/2026/03/19/8227