Poetry by Joseph Brodsky

The English Poetic Translations, by Anna Polibina-Polansky

Love: Justifications

("Ya dvazhdy probuzhdalsya etoy noch'yu...")

I got awakened twice, inside the gloom.

I made my way to windows enlightened.

An extract of a phrase addressed to whom,

I'd not have told... The silence - filled the room.

I wasn't, yet, consoled. The night got tighter.

I dreamed of you, that pregnant. Therefore

We actually had parted. I am blaming

Myself. The tummy, common joy, had born.

I hadn't had a single chance, to tame it.

I had perceived my jeans. I dreamed no more.

I switched on the light. I roamed, so,

Straight to the glass. I'd left you in the darkness.

You slept, though lonesome, had been your sweet soul.

After a break, I had appeared. Sparkling

The rain had been. I, on intention, soaked.

...We are up wedded. Our nudeness is

All proved by kids. The darkness keeps our feelings.

You will come, skinny, tired, from the mist,

With our new-born child.  It will be appealing,

To justify what we, at random, will, yet.

We watch the night. So I will stay with you.

The hedge of shady days won't be against that.

We won't depend upon the world untrue.

You will reach me, however sad or hasty.

So kids will justify why we were chaste so.

We'll conquer that pang, we will tame the shrewd.

Feb, 1971/tr. April, 2020