Saint Peter sat by the celestial gate:
His keys were rusty, and the lock was dull,
So little trouble had been given of late;
Not that the place by any means was full
Апостол Петр сидел у райских врат.
Его ключи порядком заржавели:
Уж много дней и много лет подряд
Дремал святой привратник от безделья.
Terrestrial business filled nought in the sky
Save the Recording Angel’s black bureau;
Who found, indeed, the facts to multiply
With such rapidity of vice and woe,
That he had stripped off both his wings in quills,
And yet was in arrear of human ills.
Никем дела земные не велись,
Лишь ангел-летописец в огорченье
Следил, как быстро беды развелись
В подлунном мире: ведь при всем раченье,
На перья оба выщипав крыла,
Он отставал в записыванье зла.
What Angels shrink from: even the very Devil
On this occasion his own work abhorred
От адской гекатомбы мертвых тел
Сам дьявол содрогнулся…