Photograph of Vacationers…

Photograph of Vacationers in the Russian Countryside

Where I wonder, are these melancholy girls of ephemeral youth ?
Olga, Irina and Masha, feeble autumn trees,
remember the names of all those who once rested in your shade,
have no more regrets for the years that slip by,
I myself have no other way,
I too embraced these trees with trembling hands
I too loved unattainable eternity.
There is no other time for me except this past that continuously drifts away,
there is no other way for us Olga, Irina, Masha,
I have never understood death.
And I too furiously strike the earth with my cane,
helpless like a blind man.
 

Translated from Greek by Richard Pierce