Сочинения Иосифа Бродского. Том IV

«Slave, come to my service!» «Yes, my master. Yes?»
«Quick, fetch water to wash my hands: I am to make an offering to my god».
«Make an offering, make an offering.
Who makes offerings to his god fills his heart with riches;
he feels generous, and his purse is open».
«No, slave. I won’t make an offering!»
«Rightly so, my master. Rightly so!
Can you really train your god to follow you like a doggy?
All the time he demands obedience, rituals, sacrifices!»

IX

«Slave, come to my service!» «Yes, my master. Yes?»
«I’ll invest with the interest, I will loan for the interest».
«Yes, invest with the interest, make loans for the interest.
Who does so preserves his own; his profit, though, is enormous».
«No, slave, I won’t lend and I won’t invest!»
«Don’t invest, my master. Don’t lend.
To lend is like loving a woman; to receive, like siring bad children:
people always curse those whose grain they eat.
They’ll resent you or try to reduce your profit».

X

«Slave, come to my service!» «Yes, my master. Yes?»
«I shall do a good deed for my nation!»
«Very good, my master, very good. You do that!
Who does good deeds for his nation has his name in Marduk’s gold signet».
«No, slave. I won’t do a good deed for my nation».
«Don’t do that, my master. Don’t bother.
Get up and stroll across ancient ruins,
scan the skulls of simple folk and nobles:
which one of them was a villain, which one a benefactor?»

XI

«Slave, come to my service!» «Yes, my master. Yes?»
«If all this is so, then what is good?»
«To have your neck broken and my neck broken,
to be thrown into a river — that’s what is good!
Who is so tall as to reach the heavens?
Who so broad as to embrace plains and mountains?»
«If that’s so, I should kill you, slave: I’d rather you go before me».
«And does my master believe that he can survive for three days without me?»

1987

EPITAPH FOR A CENTAUR