Sergey Esenin
Where, my childhood’s home, art thou...

Where, my childhood’s home, art thou,
Warm beneath the hillock’s brow?
And my little blue, blue bud,
And the sand where no one trod?
Where, my childhood’s home, art thou?

Past the river sings the cock.
There the shepherd grazed his flock
And amid the water’s play
Shone three stars from far away.
Past the river sings the cock.

Time, a windmill with a wing.
Makes the pendulum moon to swing
Past the village, on the grain.
Speeds for hours the unseen rain.
Time, a windmill with a wing.

Rain with arrows in a crowd
Has convulsed my home with cloud,
Mowed the blue bud from the land,
Trampled down the golden sand,
Rain with arrows in a crowd.

Translated by Cecil Maurice Bowra