Короткие стихи 1929-1931
1
Pick a quarrel, go to war,
Leave the hero in the bar;
Hunt the lion, climb the peak:
No one guesses you are weak.
2
The friends of the born nurse
Are always getting worse.
3
When he is well
She gives him hell;
But she's a brick
When he is sick.
4
You’re a long way off becoming a saint
So long as you suffer from any complaint;
But, if you don’t, there’s no denying
The chances are that you’re not trying.
5
I am afraid there is many a spectacled sod
Prefers the British Museum to God.
6
I'm beginning to lose patience
With my personal relations:
They are not deep,
And they are not cheap.
7
Those who will not reason
Perish in the act;
Those who will not act
Perish for that reason.
8
Let us honor if we can
The vertical man,
Though we value none
But the horizontal one.
9
'These had stopped seeking
But went on speaking,
Have not contributed
But have diluted.
These ordered light
But had no right,
These handed on
War and a son.
Wishing no harm
But to be warm,
These fell asleep.
On the burning heap.
10
Private faces
In public places
Are wiser and nicer
Than public faces
In private places.
* * *
I'm beginning to lose patience
With my personal relations:
They are not deep,
And they are not cheap.
* * *
Thoughts of his own death,
like the distant roll
of thunder at a picnic.
* * *
Bound to ourselves for life,
we must learn how to
put up with each other.
* * *
Fate succumbs
many species: one alone
jeopardises itself.
* * *
The palm extended in welcome:
Look! for you
I have unclenched my fist.
* * *
Animal femurs,
ascribed to saints who never
existed, are still
more holy than portraits
of conquerors who,
unfortunately, did.
* * *
Pulling on his socks,
he recall that his gran-pa
went pop in the act.
* * *
Man must either fall in love
with Someone or Something,
or else fall ill.
* * *
Nothing can be loved too much,
but all things can be loved
in the wrong way.
* * *
I'm for freedom because I mistrust the Censor in office,
But if I held the job, my! how severe I should be!
* * *
When he is well
She gives him hell;
But she's a brick
When he is sick.
