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Гусеница обустраивает кокон, вырубается без наркоза,
Перевоплощается в бабочку, что мало кого удивляет.
Может летать, оказывается, рожденный ползать.
Рожденный летать, пожалуй, вовсе не умирает.
Гусеница – прожорлива, бабочка – та постится,
Цветочную пыльцу переносит без видимого усилья.
Бабочками не рождаются, но можно в неё превратиться:
Отползать своё – и однажды расправить легкие крылья.
~~~
A caterpillar builds a cocoon, falls asleep without pills,
Goes through a transformation to become a butterfly.
One that’s born to crawl will fly over hills,
One that’s born to fly may never die.
A caterpillar searches restlessly for food.
A butterfly, carrying pollen, never eats.
One who was crawling has changed the route:
Jumped into the air and spread her wings!
Translated by the poet
Boris Kokotov was born in Moscow. He has authored several poetry collections in Russian. His translations of works by German Romantic poets were published in “A Century of Translation” (“Век перевода”), an anthology of translated verse, in Moscow. His translation of Louise Glück’s “The Wild Iris” was published by Vodoley (Moscow, 2012). Since 2015, his original work in English, as well as his translations into English, appeared in many literary magazines. He lives in Baltimore.
