Of dreary night the hour. I watch contoured
two dreary shadows: there, behind a curtain white,
the lamp is burning, in a field of light,
two shadows of the night… Alone one beside another,
alone each for the other in weariness and thirst,
there - the shadow of a man and a shadow of a woman.

Painfully a head toward a head inclines -
none shall hear the other: powerless they yearn.
Perhaps they whisper - what are they frightened of?
Tensely hands to hands stretch out
and still they never touch! Powerless they yearn…
And again, one beside the other, each for the other stands.

Perhaps they whisper, but perhaps they shout,
perhaps they scream; - none shall hear the other,
two shadows of the night, through so much light…
They will not hear each other, nor will they reach,
alone each for the other in weariness and thirst,
they - the shadow of a man and a shadow of a woman!

Translated. by Branislav Slantchev