<p>An Enigma<a l:href="#n_119" type="note">[119]</a></p>“Seldom we find,” says Solomon Don Dunce, “ Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet.Through all the flimsy things we see at once As easily as through a Naples bonnet — Trash of all trash! – how can a lady don it?Yet heavier far than your Petrarchan stuff —Owl-downy nonsense that the faintest puff Twirls into trunk-paper the while you con it.”And, veritably, Sol is right enough.The general tuckermanities are arrantBubbles – ephemeral and so transparent — But this is, now, – you may depend upon it —Stable, opaque, immortal – all by dintOf the dear names that lie concealed within ‘t.<p>Загадочный сонет</p>«Сонеты, – учит Соломон дон Дукка, — На редкость мыслью подлинной бедны,В прозрачном их ничтожестве видны Хитросплетенья зауми со скукой. Красавицы чураться их должны.Их понапрасну выдумал Петрарка.Чуть дунь – и все труды его насмарку. Они смешны, слащавы и бледны».Не возражаю Солу. Хоть и зол он.Но прав. Сколь часто, изумляя свет,Убог, как мыльный пузырек, сонет. Не этот, я надеюсь. Тайны полон,Он будет, вечен и неколебим,Беречь свой смысл – ваш милый псевдоним.<p>The Bells<a l:href="#n_120" type="note">[120]</a></p><p>I</p> Hear the sledges with the bells — Silver bells!What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the Heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the tintinabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells — From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.<p>II</p> Hear the mellow wedding bells — Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! — From the molten-golden notes And all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cellsWhat a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! – how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells! — Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells — To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!<p>III</p>
