Vreme/Time

    Petya Dubarova


    (poetical translation of R. Waters's "Time")
     
    Tekat minuti, chasove i dni Ticking away the moments that
    v bezspiren byag bezsledno otleteli. make up a dull day
    Kak strashno v tezi chetiri steni You fritter and waste the hours
    ti blqskash svoyte misli posiveli. in an off-hand way
    I chakash nyakogo. No idva den, Kicking around on a piece of ground
    kogato po pqteki osveteni, in your home town
    ot blyasqka na slqnce ozaren, Waiting for someone or something
    s izopnati ot dqjd prohladni veni to show you the way.
    shte spresh za mig vnezapno pokosen
    ot misql: Mladostta e izjivyana, Tired of lying in the sunshine
    i kak li shte priznaesh ujase'n staying home to watch the rain
    pred sebe si, che tya e propilyana. You are young and life is long
    I istinski vse oshte nejivyal, and there is time to kill today
    denyat ti siv otmerva puls posleden. And then one day you find ten years
    I vremeto shte sgrabchish ti bez jal have got behind you
    sqs treskavi rqce i ujas leden. No one told you when to run,
    Kqm slqnceto s presqhnali ochi, you missed the starting gun.
    sqsipan, prejadnyal shte se katerish.
    No slqnceto jestoko shte mqlchi And you run and you run to catch up
    i nishto novo nyama da namerish, with the sun, but it's sinking
    zashtoto si sqvsem obiknoven chovek And racing around to come up
    na sredna vqzrast. Mnogo skoro behind you again
    e moje bi i onzi strashen den, The sun is the same in the
    kogato smqrt ochite shte zatvori. relative way, but you're older
    Shte vqrnesh li, dali shte vqrnesh pak And shorter of breath and one day
    zagubenoto, veche propilyano?! closer to death.
    Na karta shte zalagash, svetql bryag
    ste tqrsish, no vqv tebe kato rana Every year is getting shorter,
    shte pari misqlta, che dve neshta never seem to find the time
    ne mojesh nikoga da si vqzvqrnesh: Plans that either come to naught or
    Jivota da izbavish ot smqrtta half a page of scribbled lines
    i vremeto nazad da vqrnesh! Hanging on in quiet desperation
    is the English way
     
    Izticha pesenta kato voda! The time is gone the song is over
    No vremeto ostava neyna straja. thought I'd something more to say.
    Dotuka spira moyata sleda,
    a imah tolkoz mnogo da vi kaja.

    Back to the Table of Contents