Charles Lamb

Come, my little Robert, near—
Fie! what filthy hands are here—
Who that e'er could understand
The rare structure of a hand,…

A FABLE."A wicked action fear to do,
When you are by yourself; for though
You think you can conceal it,
A little bird that's in the air…

If you go to the field where the reapers now bind
The sheaves of ripe corn, there a fine little lass,
Only three months of age, by the hedge-row you'll find,
Left alone by its mother upon the low grass.While the mother is reaping, the infant is sleeping;…

A dozen years since in this house what commotion,
What bustle, what stir, and what joyful ado;
Every soul in the family at my devotion,
When into the world I came twelve years ago.I've been told by my friends (if they do not belie me)…

Off with BRIAREUS, and his HUNDRED HANDS,
OUR NELSON, with one arm, unconquer’d stands!

What Wawd knows, God knows;
But God knows what Wawd knows.

A Creole boy from the West Indies brought,
To be in European learning taught,
Some years before to Westminster he went,
To a preparatory school was sent.…

I have taught your young lips the good words to say over,
Which form the petition we call the Lord's Prayer,
And now let me help my dear child to discover
The meaning of all the good words that are there."Our Father,"—the same appellation is given…

JANE.Mamma is displeased and looks very grave,
And I own, brother, I was to blame
Just now when I told her I wanted to have,
Like Miss Lydia, a very fine name.…

O hush, my little baby brother;
Sleep, my love, upon my knee.
What though, dear child, we've lost our mother;
That can never trouble thee.You are but ten weeks old to-morrow;…

David and his three captains bold
Kept ambush once within a hold.
It was in Adullam's cave,
Nigh which no water they could have.…

A timid grace sits trembling in her eye,
As loath to meet the rudeness of men's sight,
Yet shedding a delicious lunar light
That steeps in kind oblivious ecstasy…

"Your prayers you have said, and you've wished good night:
What cause is there yet keeps my darling awake?
This throb in your bosom proclaims some affright
Disturbs your composure. Can innocence quake?"Why thus do you cling to my neck, and enfold me,…

A little child, who had desired
To go and see the Park guns fired,
Was taken by his maid that way
Upon the next rejoicing day.…

Mystery of God! thou brave & beauteous world!
Made fair with light, & shade, & stars, & flowers;
Made fearful and august with woods & rocks,
Jagg'd precipice, black mountain, sea in storms;…

A child's a plaything for an hour;
Its pretty tricks we try
For that or for a longer space;
Then tire, and lay it by.But I knew one that to itself…

Лорд Нельсон однорук, но он – гроза морей.
Ничтожен перед ним сторукий Бриарей!© Перевод Евг. Фельдмана
1.06.2007
Все переводы Евгения Фельдмана

Incorrectness in your speech
Carefully avoid, my Anna;
Study well the sense of each
Sentence, lest in any manner…

As busy Aurelia, 'twixt work and 'twixt play,
Was labouring industriously hard
To cull the vile weeds from the flowerets away,
Which grew in her father's court-yard;In her juvenile anger, wherever she found,…

(1820)Ты отправляешься в Ганнóвер?
И мы того хотим давно, верь!© Перевод Евг. Фельдмана
31.05.2007
Все переводы Евгения Фельдмана

I saw a famous fountain, in my dream,
Where shady path-ways to a valley led;
A weeping willow lay upon that stream,
And all around the fountain brink were spread…

To operas and balls my cousins take me,
And fond of plays my new-made friend would make me.
In summer season, when the days are fair,
In my godmother's coach I take the air.…

Smiling river, smiling river,
On thy bosom sun-beams play;
Though they're fleeting, and retreating,
Thou hast more deceit than they.In thy channel, in thy channel,…

Whether beneath sweet beds of roses,
As foolish little Ann supposes,
The spirit of a babe reposes
Before it to the body come;…