To Roman Gul
Even the graves are not tended in Russia,
Once they may have been, but I have forgotten.
There is no Petersburg, no Moscow, no Kiev,
Once there may have been, alas I have forgotten.
Neither seas, rivers do I know, nor frontiers.
But I know the Russian man's still there.
He has a Russian heart, he has a Russian head.
I'll understand him from the very first word said,
When I meet him face to face ... Then I shall begin
To see his country too, dimly through the mist.
Роману Гулю
Нет в России даже дорогих могил,
Может быть и были — только я забыл.
Нету Петербурга, Киева, Москвы —
Может быть и были, да забыл, увы.
Ни границ не знаю, ни морей, ни рек,
Знаю - там остался русский человек.
Русский он по сердцу, русский по уму,
Если я с ним встречусь, я его пойму.
Сразу, с полуслова... И тогда начну
Различать в тумане и его страну.
«In Vyazma is an ancient house / Which once one night was home to us. That night we ate whatever came, / The source of drink was much the same. At dawn, we went away to fight / And one of us lived not till night. But this I know, that as he died, / We and the house were in his mind. That ...»
«to Valentina Serova That's how we live, without forgetting, / Today it's him, tomorrow I. / The cup of death goes round the table / And each must wait his turn to die. If I am blind to how you treat me. / It's not because I cannot see. / It is because, around the table, / The cup comes...»
«to Valentina Serova In a dream, I saw a wedding / And I think the bride was you. / You the bride and I a beggar / At the porch — it may be true! Let it happen as I dreamed it! / Only promise, as you stand / At the porch, to have the kindness — / Put no alms into my hand!»
«to Valentina Serova With glass a thousand miles thick / Parting has glazed the windows of your flat; / And I look through, as from another world, / But not a sound is audible through that. I see you pass and sit down by the window. / You smile at someone; you get up unheard. / You speak....»