Agniya Barto
Auntie’s country house

“What luck!” said Auntie
In great exultation,
“We’ve rented a country-house
Quite near the station;
Near a wood of shady trees,
As for berries — all you please!
Just ten minutes from the station,
You can reach our house with ease.
There the scenery’s a pleasure!
And our garden is a treasure!”
Auntie Olya then invited
Papa, Mamma, and me, too.
Auntie said to us, excited:
“Stay the week-end with us, do!
I’ll explain where we live, so
You will know just where to go.

When you pass the station fences,
Where a narrow ditch commences
At the station, to the right —
Walk until you come in sight
Of a watch-tower and a paling.
After that, it’s all plain sailing!
Do not leave the path, and it
Soon will lead you to a pit;
Then it breaks off short, just where you
See a water-well, and there you
Climb the hillock, and you’ll see
Where we live — House Forty-Three!”

Auntie looked at me and said,
“Bring him, too," and stroked my head.
“He will not be in your way.
Let him breathe fresh air all day.”

First, we walked on straight ahead.
“No, not this way,” Mama said.
“From the station, to the right.
There a ditch should be in sight.”
At the turning, all we found
Was a marshy strip of ground.
Round the forest fringe we blundered,
Climbed a little hill, and we
Met a woman — and she wondered
When we asked for Forty-Three.
“Why, that’s somewhere near the station!”
Was the woman’s explanation.

As in spite, rain started
                                     drizzling;
Daddy, angry, started
                                  fizzling:
“Where is your umbrella? I
Warned you — look now
                                       at the sky!”

So we waited in the rain
Till the weather cleared again.
I was drenched from head to toe,

Not a step more could I go.
So we dragged back to the station
Got into a homebound
                                    train.

And I’ve lost all inclination
To go visiting again.
I’ll thank Auntie in a letter,
But I’ll tell her, home is better!

Translated by Louis Zelikoff