Ральф Эмерсон – The Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson / Стихотворения (страница 84)
Веря: нет нигде такого
Императора младого,
Чья власть очистит лик от туч:
И толп, и бардов глас могуч.
Переменчив он, упрям,
Скрытен, дик, неясен нам,
Эльфов он утрёт при встрече,
Соткан из противоречий;
Порок под добродетель прячет,
Добро в рассказах не маячит.
Если чем порой смущён,
Одинок, упорен он;
Рвёт деревья и кусты,
Как ребёнок рвёт цветы;
Летний вал его несёт
В леса, к зверям, в рудник и грот;
Как бык, природу любит он,
Как птица, как олень, как слон.
Нимфы, прочь, не то ждут бе́ды!
Разумен он сверх всяких мер;
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O how wise are his discourses!
But he is the arch-hypocrite,
And, through all science and all art,
Seeks alone his counterpart.
He is a Pundit of the East,
He is an augur and a priest,
And his soul will melt in prayer,
But word and wisdom is a snare;
Corrupted by the present toy
He follows joy, and only joy.
There is no mask but he will wear;
He invented oaths to swear;
He paints, he carves, he chants, he prays,
And holds all stars in his embrace.
He takes a sovran privilege
Not allowed to any liege;
For Cupid goes behind all law,
And right into himself does draw;
For he is sovereignly allied, —
Heaven’s oldest blood flows in his side, —
And interchangeably at one
With every king on every throne,
That no god dare say him nay,
Or see the fault, or seen betray:
He has the Muses by the heart,
And the stern Parcae on his part
His many signs cannot be told;
He has not one mode, but manifold,
Many fashions and addresses,
Piques, reproaches, hurts, caresses.
He will preach like a friar,
And jump like Harlequin;
He will read like a crier,
And fight like a Paladin.
Boundless is his memory;
Plans immense his term prolong;
He is not of counted age,
Meaning always to be young.
And his wish is intimacy,
Intimater intimacy,
And a stricter privacy;
The impossible shall yet be done,
And, being two, shall still be one.
As the wave breaks to foam on shelves, 
