A Rui Xiao Poem (3)

Drinking Songs


Let me propose a toast
To the blue bays of Finland in the sun
Let me propose a toast
To other shores far away in the Baltic Sea

Let me propose a toast
To the great Pushkin
And to the great Dostoyevsky
Who both belong to the world
To the elves in St. Petersburg
And to all the great hearts of Russia

Let me propose a toast
To my own beautiful lost youth
When I read Pushkin and Lermontov

Let me propose a toast
To galloping on the ocean with Bacchus
Orgiastic winds of spring and summer
In a riot of want

Let me propose a toast
To my heart in amber
Which beats on the Neva
That rushes out to the Baltic Sea

Let me propose a toast
To the blue sea and sky
In my champagne glass
Glittering and translucent

Let me propose a toast
To liberation from all impurities
As I drink the golden sunlight

Come on, hear me
God of lonely rivers
King of Russia’s ocean
Let me be drunk and sleep alone
Let me drift away tonight
On the flow of time


(2014) Tr. 2014