Loving him greater than a brother,
Loving his kind, his throne, his blood,
Daughter of Elise, Camerata,
You knew the way in which burns love.

Suddenly, not dressed in garlands,
Without a myrtle, song and band,
Into most beautiful of legends
You entered with him, hand in hand.

As if before a coffin bending
Blessing him onto his travails,
The prince's hand, just like a temple,
You brought to your lips and went pale.

And lowered the prince's eyelids
And then he knew without words:
With this gesture he knew, in silence,
Forever would unite two souls.

What for you is Romeo and Juliet
Nightingale's song in the dark groves!
Without vows they one another heeded,
A dark raincoat, tunic like snow.

And now, with great force of the gesture,
You have become till end of years,
Although the vows were not stated,
The groom and the pale bride forever.

Dressed fully in the mourning attire,
In wave of the dark hairstyle you stand,
And both the children, and the flowers
He – in the halo of light strands.

The payback did not reach you either,
For in you was asleep the blood.
Daughter of Elise, Camerata,
You knew the way in which burns love.

By Marina Tsvetayeva
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat