Sergey Esenin
Leaves are falling here and yonder...

Leaves are falling here and yonder.
And the wind is
Drawling and low.
Who will gladden my heart I wonder?
Who will soothe it, my friend, do you know?

I'm staring at the moon, and I'm trying
Not to sleep keeping drowse away.
There again the rosters are crying
At the break of the autumn day.

Early hours of dawn, blue as ever...
Blissful joy of the flying stars...
I could now make wishes. However,
I don't know what to wish, alas!

What is there to wish for, I wonder,
Cursing home and my fate and all?
What I want is to see over yonder,
By my window, a beautiful girl.

I should like her,
as an exception,
To convey that she needs me sole,
And I want her, with words of affection,
To console my heart and my soul.

So that I, accepting my lessons,
On this wonderful moonlit night
Might not melt and faint from delight
And with jubilant adolescence
Might be pleased with my youth all right.

Translated by Alec Vagapov