Sergey Esenin
Don’t, silly heart, get excited!..

Don’t, silly heart, get excited!
Happiness tricks every one of us,
Only the poor beg for some of it...
Don’t, silly heart, get excited.

Smoothly the moon’s yellow charms
Flood over flowering chestnuts.
Bending to Lala’s shalwars,
Under her veil I shall shelter.
Don’t, silly heart, get excited.

Sometimes we all act like children,
By turns we’re laughing and wailing:
It has been our lot to witness
Joyful success, dismal failure.
Don’t, silly heart, get excited.

I’ve been to many a country,
Everywhere joy I was seeking.
Now I’ll no longer go hunting
Happiness that has no equal.
Don’t, silly heart, get excited.

Life has not wholly deceived me.
New strength for singing I’ll summon.
Why don’t you fall fast asleep here,
Heart, in the lap of our loved one?
Life has not wholly deceived me.

Fate that descends like an avalanche
Maybe shall notice us also,
To my love I’ll get an answer
With a sweet nightingale warble.
Don’t, silly heart, get excited.

Translated by Peter Tempest