wendy cope (англ.)

Открыл для себя Венди Коуп, прекрасную совершенно. Вот четыре стихотворения, из особенно понравившихся (я пролистал первые два ее сборника, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (1986) и Serious Concerns (1992).

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Flowers

Some men never think of it.
You did. You’d come along
And say you’d nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts –
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But, look, the flowers you nearly brought
Have lasted all this while.


Bloody Men

Bloody men are like bloody buses -
You wait for about a year
And as soon as one approaches your stop
Two or three others appear.

You look at them flashing their indicators,
Offering you a ride.
You're trying to read the destination,
You haven't much time to decide.

If you make a mistake, there is no turning back.
Jump off, and you'll stand there and gaze
While the cars and the taxis and lorries go by
And the minutes, the hours, the days.


I Worry

I worry about you –
So long since we spoke.
Love, are you downhearted,
Dispirited, broke?

I worry about you.
I can’t sleep at night.
Are you sad? Are you lonely?
Or are you all right?

They say that men suffer,
As badly, as long.
I worry, I worry,
In case
they are wrong.


Another Unfortunate Choice

I think I am in love with A. E. Housman,
Which puts me in a worse­ than ­usual fix.
No woman ever stood a chance with Housman
And he’s been dead since 1936.