Чудовище — жилец вершин… / The Monster, resident of heights…

Чудовище — жилец вершин,
С ужасным задом,
Схватило несшую кувшин,
С прелестным взглядом.
Она качалась, точно плод,
В ветвях косматых рук.
Чудовище, урод,
Довольно, тешит свой досуг.

<1908 — 1909>

The Monster, resident of heights,
With the terrible back-side,
Caught a girl who carried a jar,
Having a tender sight.
In the branches of his fuzzy hands
Like a ripened fruit she swung,
Thus, the horrid Monster spends,
Satisfied, his leisure time.

Translated by Alexandr Zorin (http://www.sashastr.narod.ru/Khlebnikov.html)

VARIANT II

Enormous arboreal monster, hanging
high with rump of shocking size,
grips a girl who fetched a pail of water,
rolling at him her cajoling eyes.
Diddled for a moment, she’s an apple
on the branches of his shaggy arms.
Enormous monster — rather awful,
really — lolls back and laps. Life has its charms.

Translated by Paul Schmidt (Khlebnikov, Velimir. Collected Works, 3 vols. Trans. Paul Schmidt. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1987.)

Мир Велимира Хлебникова

VARIANT II