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“Encounter with Love” by Boris Pasternak 🇷🇺 (10 Feb 1890 – 30 May 1960)
Translated from the Russian by Yuri Menis
The roads pile up with snow.
The roofs have snow galore.
Perhaps, to stretch I’ll go—
You stand outside the door.
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Alone. In autumn wear.
No hat, no rubber shoes.
You feign you do not care—
Your mouth, though, snowflakes chews.
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The trees and fences steer
Away into the dark.
Alone you stand so near
As snowfall fills the park.
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And off your shawl some snow
Drips down into the cuff.
Your hair is all aglow
With dewdrops hanging tough.
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A lock of fairest hair
Illuminates your face,
The figure, shawl and—there,
This coat you wear with grace.
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Your lashes, too, are wet;
Your eyes betray unease,
And all of you seems made
Of one unbroken piece.
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As if an iron pin
Had dipped in dye in part
And etched you from within
Across my throbbing heart.
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Your features born contrite
Had grabbed my heart for good,
And hence I do not mind
The world that’s cruel and crude.
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And hence this snowy night
That’s doubled for our sake,
And there is no divide
Between us I can make.
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But who are we, from where,
If all those years galore
Left nothing but hot air,
Yet we are here no more?