After years of promising myself I would one day translate Alexander Kochetkov's "Ballad of the Smoke-Filled Carriage" I finally got around to it. The result leaves something to be desired, but it's a start.
Alexander Kochetkov
THE BALLAD OF THE SMOKE-FILLED CARRIAGE
“How painful, dearest one, how foreign,
Having joined our roots, entwined our branches,
How painful, dearest one, how foreign
It feels to split beneath the saw!
continue >>The wounded heart will not close over,
Will spill out clear as hot tears,
The wounded heart will not close over –
Will spill out, burning as hot sap.”
“While yet I live, with you I will be, –
The soul and blood can’t be divided, –
While yet I live, with you I will be, –
Come love, come death, forever joined.
You’ll carry everywhere with you, –
You’ll carry everywhere, beloved, –
You’ll carry everywhere with you
Your own country, your dear home.”
“But what if I can find no shelter
Against incurable compassion,
But what if I can find no shelter
Against the darkness and the cold?”
“We’ll meet beyond this separation,
Do not forget me, my beloved,
We’ll meet beyond this separation,
We will return here – you and I.”
“But what if I should disappear –
The short-lived rays of cooling daylight, –
But what if I should disappear
Beyond the stars, their milky smoke?”
“Then I will pray for you, my darling,
That you recall your way is earthly,
Then I will pray for you, my darling,
That you return to me, unharmed.”
Rattled within the smoke-filled carriage,
He now became resigned and homeless,
Rattled within the smoke-filled carriage,
He was half-crying, half-asleep,
When, on an icy slope, the engine
Bent in a terrible contortion,
When, on an icy slope, the engine,
Tore sudden wheels from sudden rails.
A merciless inhuman power,
In one great press everyone maiming,
A merciless inhuman power
Threw what was earthly from the earth.
And nobody was protected
By that long-distant promised meeting,
And nobody was protected
By a hand that beckoned, far away.
From those you love do not be parted!
From those you love do not be parted!
From those you love do not be parted!
With all your blood grow into them, –
And each time say good-bye forever!
And each time say good-bye forever!
And each time say good-bye forever, –
When leaving for a moment’s span.