Сергей Есенин «Письмо к женщине» на английском языке
Сергей Есенин «Письмо к женщине» читает Сергей Безруков
Письмо к женщине
Вы помните,
Вы всё, конечно, помните,
Как я стоял,
Приблизившись к стене,
Взволновано ходили вы по комнате
И что-то резкое
В лицо бросали мне.
Вы говорили:
Нам пора расстаться,
Что вас измучила
Моя шальная жизнь,
Что вам пора за дело приниматься,
А мой удел —
Катиться дальше вниз.
Любимая!
Меня вы не любили.
Не знали вы, что в сонмище людском
Я был, как лошадь, загнанная в мыле,
Пришпоренная смелым ездоком.
Не знали вы,
Что я в сплошном дыму,
В разворочённом бурей быте
С того и мучаюсь, что не пойму —
Куда несёт нас рок событий.
Лицом к лицу
Лица не увидать.
Большое видится на расстояньи.
Когда кипит морская гладь,
Корабль в плачевном состояньи.
Земля — корабль!
Но кто-то вдруг
За новой жизнью, новой славой
В прямую гущу бурь и вьюг
Её направил величаво.
Ну кто ж из нас на палубе большой
Не падал, не блевал и не ругался?
Их мало, с опытной душой,
Кто крепким в качке оставался.
Тогда и я
Под дикий шум,
Но зрело знающий работу,
Спустился в корабельный трюм,
Чтоб не смотреть людскую рвоту.
Тот трюм был —
Русским кабаком.
И я склонился над стаканом,
Чтоб не страдая ни о ком,
Себя сгубить,
В угаре пьяном.
Любимая!
Я мучил вас,
У вас была тоска
В глазах усталых:
Что я пред вами напоказ
Себя растрачивал в скандалах.
Но вы не знали,
Что в сплошном дыму,
В разворочённом бурей быте
С того и мучаюсь,
Что не пойму,
Куда несёт нас рок событий…
………………………………
Теперь года прошли,
Я в возрасте ином.
И чувствую и мыслю по-иному.
И говорю за праздничным вином:
Хвала и слава рулевому!
Сегодня я
В ударе нежных чувств.
Я вспомнил вашу грустную усталость.
И вот теперь
Я сообщить вам мчусь,
Каков я был
И что со мною сталось!
Любимая!
Сказать приятно мне:
Я избежал паденья с кручи.
Теперь в Советской стороне
Я самый яростный попутчик.
Я стал не тем,
Кем был тогда.
Не мучил бы я вас,
Как это было раньше.
За знамя вольности
И светлого труда
Готов идти хоть до Ла-Манша.
Простите мне…
Я знаю: вы не та —
Живёте вы
С серьёзным, умным мужем;
Что не нужна вам наша маета,
И сам я вам
Ни капельки не нужен.
Живите так,
Как вас ведёт звезда,
Под кущей обновлённой сени.
С приветствием,
Вас помнящий всегда
Знакомый ваш
Сергей Есенин.
1924
Сергей Есенин (1895–1925)
A Letter to the Woman
Yes, you remember,
You certainly remember
The way I listened
Standing at the wall
As you walked to and fro about the chamber
Reproving me
With bitter words and all.
You said
That it was time we’d parted,
And that my reckless life,
For you, was an ordeal,
And it was time a new life you had started
While I was fated
To go rolling downhill.
My love!
You didn’t care for me, no doubt.
You weren’t aware of the fact that I
Was like a ruined horse, amidst the crowd,
Spurred by a dashing rider, flashing by.
You didn’t know
That I was all a-smoke,
And in my life, turned wholly upside-down,
I was in misery, downhearted, broke,
Because I didn’t see which way we were bound.
When face to face
We cannot see the face.
We should step back for better observation.
For when the ocean boils and wails
The ship is in a sorry situation.
The world is but a ship!
But all at once,
Someone, in search of better life and glory,
Has turned it, gracefully, taking his chance,
Into the hub of storm and flurry.
Well, which of us
On board a mighty boat
Has never brawled nor barfed nor fallen down?
There are not many of them that will not
Despair when they’re about to drown.
Me, too,
To loud hue and cry,
But knowing well what I was doing
Went down to the hold where I
Might keep away from scenes of spewing.
«Hold» was a Russian pub
Where I
Drank, listening to the loud bicker,
I tried to stop my worries by
Just drowning myself in liquor.
My love!
I worried you, oh my!
Your tired eyes revealed dejection,
I didn’t hide from you that I
Had spent my life in altercation.
You didn’t know
That I was all a-smoke,
And in my life, turned wholly upside-down,
I was in misery, downhearted, broke,
Because I didn’t see
Which way we were bound.
………………………………
Now many years have passed,
I’m not so young today.
I do not feel the same, and I have new ideas,
And here at festive table I will say:
Long live the one who’s at the steers!
Today I,
Seized by tender feelings so,
Recall your wistfulness, and I am happy
To tell you straight, for you to know,
About what I was
And what has happened!
My love,
I’m glad to tell you that
I have escaped a bad descent, an’
Today I’m in the Soviet land
A staunch supporter and defender.
I’m not the man
I used to be.
I wouldn’t hurt you now
The way I did. So silly!
And I would follow Labour, feeling free,
As far as English Channel, really.
Forgive me please,
I know that you have changed.
You live with an intelligent,
Good husband;
You don’t need all this fuss and all this pledge,
And you don’t need me either, such a hazard.
Live as you do
Lead by your lucky star
Under the tent of fern, if there’s any.
My best regards,
You’re always on my mind, you are,
Yours, faithfully,
S e r g e y Y e s e n i n.
Sergei Yesenin
Translated by Alec Vagapov
Letter to a Woman
You remember,
Of course, you remember
How I stood
With my back to the wall
While you paced the room in a temper
And many a sharp word
Let fall.
You said:
It was high time we parted,
My mad life
Was torturing you.
You’d work to do and had to start on it,
While I’d slide on down
To my doom.
Beloved!
You did not love me,
Didn’t know: in the milling crowd
I was like a horse driven to fury
By spurs, and foaming at the mouth.
You didn’t know:
In the thick smoke,
In the turmoil of life swiftly spreading
What tortured me was I did not know
Where our ship of fate was heading…
Face to face
You can’t see the features.
You need distance to see what is great.
When the ocean surface is seething
The ship’s in a pitiful state.
The earth is a ship!
But suddenly someone
Determined new horizons should be won,
Headed straight for the raging hurricane,
Steered the ship unswervingly on.
And was there a man among us on deck
Who did not stumble, start swearing and puke?
Few were the men of experience
Who stood their ground when all heaven shook.
Then did I too
In the terrible din,
Though knowing well what I was doing,
Go down into the hold of the ship
Not to witness the passengers spewing.
The ship’s hold was
A Russian tavern
And over a glass I bent low
So, by the sight of woe not saddened,
I could go to the dogs
In a drunken glow.
Beloved!
I caused you heartache and pain.
Weary-eyed
On my antics you gazed,
Seeing me time and time and again
Wasting my talent on wild escapades.
But you didn’t know:
In the thick smoke,
In the turmoil of life that was spreading
What tortured me was
I did not know
Where our ship of fate was heading…
………………………………
Many years have passed.
I’m a different age.
In a different way I’m thinking, feeling.
When toasts are poured I rise and say:
“Praise be to the man who’s steering!”
Today by tender feelings impelled
Your grieving weariness I remembered
And now
I’m hastening to tell you
What I was then And am at present!
Beloved!
I’ve glad news of success:
I’ve not slipped down that slope so hazardous.
Now in the land of the Soviets
I am the keenest fellow-traveller.
I’m not the same chap
I was then.
You’ll have no cause, as before,
To cavil.
I’d gladly bear the freedom flag
Of labour right to the English Channel.
Forgive me…
You too have changed, I know —
You have a husband
Who’s serious, clever;
You don’t need our old imbroglio
And you’re better off
Without me altogether.
Live
As your own star has decreed,
To new destinations your way wending.
Greetings
From one who shall ever esteem
Your memory,
Sergei Esenin.
Sergei Esenin
Translated by Peter Tempest
Letter to a Woman
You remember,
Of course you remember it all.
You remember
How I stood by the wall,
How you walked nervously around the room
Throwing sharp words
In my face.
You said
It was time to part ways,
That you had had enough
Of my manic life,
That it was time for you to be serious
And for me
To continue my downhill slide.
My love!
You didn’t love me.
You didn’t know that surrounded
By the vast crowd of humanity
I was like a horse whipped
Into a lather by a bold rider.
You didn’t know
I was in a thick fog,
In a routine shattered by a storm
And suffered because I couldn’t see
Where fateful events were carrying us.
Face to face,
You cannot see the face.
Great things must be seen at a distance.
When the sea boils,
The ship is in a sad state.
The earth is a ship!
But suddenly someone sent her,
With a grand gesture, straight
Into the thick of storms and blizzards
In quest for new life, new glory.
And who among us, standing on its wide deck,
Never fell, never barfed, never cussed?
There are few with such evolved souls
That they never faltered through all the rocking.
In those days I, too,
Was drowning in noise
But, knowing well my work,
Went down into the hold of the ship
To avoid the human vomit.
That hold was
A Russian tavern.
And I slouched over a glass
To drive myself
Into a drunken stupor,
Mourning no one.
My love!
I tormented you,
Your tired eyes
Filled with anguish to see me
Shamelessly wasting myself
In scandals in front of you.
But you didn’t know
That in the thick fog,
In a routine exploded by a storm
I suffered because
I couldn’t see
Where the fateful events were carrying us.
………………………………
Now years have passed,
I’m at another age.
I feel and think differently.
Drinking festive wine, I declare:
Glory and praise to the captain!
Today
I’m full of tender feelings.
I’ve recalled your gloomy fatigue.
And so
I rush to tell you
What I was like
And what I have become.
My love!
I’m happy to say
I didn’t fall off a cliff.
Now, in the Soviet land,
I’m the fiercest fellow traveler.
I’m not the same
I was then.
I wouldn’t torment you now
The way I used to.
I’m ready to carry the banner
Of freedom and glorious labor
All the way to the English Channel.
Forgive me…
I know: you are not the same—
You’re living
With a serious, smart husband.
You don’t need our drudgery
And you certainly
Don’t need me.
Live the way
Your star tells you to
Under the foliage
Of your renovated gazebo.
With regards,
Remembering you always,
Your acquaintance,
Sergei Esenin.
Sergei Esenin
Translated by Anton Yakovlev
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