Ирина Явчуновская - С миру по нитке. Поэтические переводы

Тише, малютка, не плачь, не скучай.
Люльку колышет река.
Песню запомни мою, люли-бай,
Спи, а во сне я близка.

Вейся ты, вейся, о, речка-река!
Груз драгоценный качай.
Где будет вольным, на те берега
Перенеси на причал.

Льётся река через пальцы мои,
Держит корзинку рука, —
Зло отведёт.
Ты беду не таи, —
Нежной будь, гладкой, река.

Вижу, малыш, улыбаешься мне,
Но… затеряется след…
Мирно плыви, будь спокоен во сне,
Я улыбаюсь в ответ.

Тише, мой мальчик, люби, не скучай.
Вот колыбель на волне.
Песню реки вспоминай, люли-бай.
Я же с тобою во сне.
Буду с тобой в твоём сне.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can really see the sky?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Какой человек одолеть должен путь,
Чтоб звали его Человек?
Как долго голубке лететь, чтоб уснуть
У дальних морей или рек?
И скольким снарядам еще просвистеть,
Чтоб не было пушек вовек?
А ветер, мой друг, уносит ответ,
А ветер уносит ответ.

И сколько веков горы будут стоять,
Пока их не сточит волной?
И сколько веков человек будет ждать
Свободы под светлой луной?
И сколько ещё будем прятать глаза,
Не видя, что рядом гроза?
А ветер, мой друг, уносит ответ,
А ветер уносит ответ.

И сколько же раз нужно ввысь поглядеть,
Чтоб виделась синяя даль?
И сколько ушей человеку иметь,
Чтоб слышал, как стонет печаль?
И сколько смертей предстоит пережить,
Чтоб жизнью начать дорожить?
Но ветер, мой друг, уносит ответ,
Но ветер уносит ответ.

Up on the white veranda
She wears a necktie and a Panama hat.
Her passport shows a face
From another time and place
She looks nothin’ like that.
And all the remnants of her recent past
Are scattered in the wild wind.
She walks across the marble floor
Where a voice from the gambling room is callin’ her to come on in.
She smiles, walks the other way
As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
From Black Diamond Bay.

As the morning light breaks open the Greek comes down
And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
“Pardon, monsieur” the desk clerk says
Carefully removes his fez
“Am I hearing you right?”
And as the yellow fog is lifting
The Greek is quickly heading for the second floor
She passes him on the spiral staircase
Thinking he’s the Soviet Ambassador
She starts to speak, but he walks away
As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
On Black Diamond Bay.

A soldier sits beneath the fan
Doing business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
Lightning strikes, the lights blow out
The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
“Can you see anything?”
Then the Greek appears on the second floor
In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
While the loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
Says “Open up another deck”
But the dealer say “Attendez-vous, s’il vous plait”
As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
From Black Diamond Bay.

The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
He tried to grab the woman’s hand
Said, “Here’s a ring it cost a grand”
She said, “That ain’t enough”
Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
She passed the door that the Greek had locked
Where a handwritten sign read, “Do not disturb”
She knocked upon it anyway
As the sun went down and the music did play
On Black Diamond Bay.

“I’ve got to talk to someone quick!”
But the Greek said, “Go away” and kicked the chair to the floor
He hung there from the chandelier
She cried, “Help there’s danger near
Please open up the door”
Then the volcano erupted
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
Thinking of forbidden love
But the desk clerk said “It happens every day”

As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
On Black Diamond Bay.
As the island slowly sank
The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
The dealer said “It’s too late now
You can take you money, but I don’t know how
You’ll spend it in the tomb”
The tiny man bit the soldier’s ear
As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew
While she’s out on the balcony where a stranger tells her
“My darling je vous aime beaucoup”
She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
From Black Diamond Bay.

I was sitting home alone one night in LA
Watching old Cronkite on the seven o’clock news
It seems there was an earthquake that
Left nothing but a Panama hat
And a pair of old Greek shoes
Didn’t seem like much was happening
So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
Seems like every time you turn around
There’s another hard-luck story that you’re gonna hear
And there’s really nothing anyone can say
And I never did plan to go anyway
To Black Diamond Bay.