If you thought I was playing games,
Let’s be clear on this account:
I have fallen in love when it was too late,
I have fallen in love, but time ran out.
If you thought I was rushing events,
You were wrong: they were rushing us.
I have fallen in love, but it was too late,
I have fallen in love when your love passed.
If you thought something here didn’t fit,
Why did you tell me that with a smile?
I have fallen in love like a fool, I admit,
I have fallen in love – is the fault all mine?
If you thought time would heal all wounds,
You can keep these illusions if you so desire.
I have fallen in love, but strange though it may sound,
I have fallen in love – not with you, my dear!
Признание
Если Вам показалось, что я говорил несерьезно,
Уверяю, Вам именно показалось.
Я влюбился когда уже было поздно,
Я влюбился, но времени не оставалось.
Если Вам показалось, что я торопил события,
Вы ошиблись: события нас торопили.
Я влюбился когда слишком поздно было,
Я влюбился но Вы уже разлюбили.
Если Вам показалось, что всё ещё можно поправить,
Для чего сообщать мне об этом с улыбкой?
Я влюбился по глупому с потрохами,
Я влюбился, но было ли это ошибкой?
Если Вам показалось, что время залечит всe раны,
Пребывайте в иллюзиях сколько хотите.
Я влюбился, Вам это покажется странным,
Я влюбился не в Вас, дорогая, простите!
Boris Kokotov was born in Moscow. He has authored several poetry collections in Russian. His translations of works by German Romantic poets were published in “A Century of Translation” (“Век перевода”), an anthology of translated verse, in Moscow. His translation of Louise Glück’s “The Wild Iris” was published by Vodoley (Moscow, 2012). Since 2015, his original work in English, as well as his translations into English, appeared in many literary magazines. He lives in Baltimore.
A collection of essays and reviews by Art Beck. “These pieces are selected from a steady series of essays and reviews I found myself publishing in the late aughts of the still early century.”
A collection of early poems by Zabolotsky, translated into English by Dmitri Manin. “Dmitri Manin’s translations retain the freshness of Zabolotsky’s vision.” – Boris Dralyuk
A book of wartime poems by Alexandr Kabanov, one of Ukraine’s major poets, fighting for the independence of his country by means at his disposal – words and rhymes.
Every character in these twenty-two interlinked stories is an immigrant from a place real or imaginary. (Magic realism/immigrant fiction.)
In this collection, Andrey Kneller has woven together his own poems with his translations of one of the most recognized and celebrated contemporary Russian poets, Vera Pavlova.
This collection, compiled, translated, and edited by poet and scholar Ian Probstein, provides Anglophone audiences with a powerful selection of Mandelstam’s most beloved and haunting poems.