Vladimir Mayakovsky 1922

You

Source: The Bedbug and selected poetry, translated by Max Hayward and George Reavey. Meridian Books, New York, 1960;

Transcribed: by Mitchell Abidor.

You came –

determined,

because I was large,

because I was roaring,

but on close inspection

you saw a mere boy.

You seized

and snatched away my heart

and began

to play with it –

like a girl with a bouncing ball.

And before this miracle

every woman

was either a lady astounded

or a maiden inquiring:

“Love such a fellow?

Why, he'll pounce on you!

She must be a lion tamer,

a girl from the zoo!”

But I was triumphant.

I didn’t feel it –

the yoke!

Oblivious with joy,

I jumped

and leapt about, a bride-happy redskin,

I felt so elated

and light.