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BALLAD OF LOVE | BALLAD ABOUT LOVE |
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As soon as it was time for the Deluge current | When, after all, the great deluge was over, |
To back away, at last, to former grounds, | The seas came back within their coastal lines, |
From hissing foam of a receding torrent, | Out of the foam of the receding water |
Upon dry land, Love quietly crawled out, | The love came out softly to the land. |
And, in the air, dissolved till time was proper, | And, for some time, it faded in the air, |
The proper time being forty, forty rounds... | And lasted for an eon and some then. |
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Besides, around, there always are odd fellows, | And some eccentrics that still do exist |
Inhaling rashly all this stuff full breath, | Inhale with their full lungs that crazy mix, |
Expecting no reward, disdaining failures. | Expecting neither scolding nor reward, |
And thinking they are breathing for no reason, | And thinking they are free to breath it in |
All of a sudden, they fall in the rhythm of | They realize one day that they fit in |
A similar faltering breathing... | Somebody else's intermittent breathing. |
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Only there's a feeling that my ship | But remember: a feeling’s like a boat |
Has to remain long afloat, | It’s afloat until you realize: |
Prior to cognizing that 'I love' | That the words «I love» mean simply that |
Is equal to 'I breathe' or else 'I live'. | «I can breathe» and «I am still alive». |
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There'll be a lot of pilgrimage and travels: | There will be plenty of despair and roaming. |
The Realm of Love is an extensive realm. | The land of love is the most noble land. |
From chivalry of hers for the ordeals | The knights of love will have to go through testing |
Ever more will she expect, | With ever higher standards and demands. |
Demanding distances and separation, | They will be separated by a distance, |
Depriving of repose, of sleep and rest... | Devoid of leisure, sleep without rest. |
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But there's no way to lead the guys astray | But nothing in the world can turn them back. |
Because, by now, they will agree to pay | Those madmen do agree to pay it back, |
Whatever price. They'd even risk their lives | Pay any price, their lives won't be excepted |
In order to keep whole and to retain | In order to preserve and to protect |
A fairy unnoticeable thread, | Some indiscernible and magic thread |
Extending to the hearts of the beloved. | Which love between them now has extended. |
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Fresh breeze makes the chosen feel drunk, | Wind and snow swept them off their feet, |
Knocks off feet and raises from the dead, | Made them drunk and raised them from the dead. |
Insomuch as if you haven't loved, | 'Cause remember you have neither lived, |
Then you haven't lived, nor have you breathed. | Nor have breathed, if you have never loved. |
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But plenty who are breathless out of love | And most of them have choked with love forever. |
Will never hear, call them as you will. | They can't be reached no matter what you do. |
Their count is kept by hearsay and twaddle. | They are accounted by idle talk and rumor, |
On blood, however, this count is often mixed. | And that account is laced with pure blood. |
Be candles put to decorate the head bed | But we will light up candles in the memory |
Of victims of unprecedented feeling... | Of those who died from the unprecedented love. |
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Blend their voices, always keeping time. | Their souls, among the flowers, will run |
Roam their souls perennially in flowers. | And their voices will blend and sound as one. |
Breathe they eternity together in one breath. | They will inhale eternity together. |
Come they across each other with a sigh, | And somewhere, on a fragile river cross, |
On fragile bridges and on brittle gangways, | A narrow bridge across the universe |
At narrow crossroads of space and time. | Holding their breath, they will meet each other. |
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For lovers, the fields will I lay - | I will open fields to those who love! |
Sing they in a sleep and in a wake. | Let them sing awake and in their rest. |
I breathe therefore I love, | I do breathe and that means I'm in love. |
I love therefore I live. | I'm in love and that means I exist. |