Gray eyes - dawn. Rudyard Kipling
"Gray Eyes - Dawn" is one of the earliest, still pre-war, poems by Konstantin Simonov. In the ten-volume collected works, published in 1979, it is in the "Free Translations" section.
The story of the creation of Rudyard Kipling's poem is also interesting in its own way, and its translation into Russian by Konstantin Simonov is one of the most “free” translations of the 20th century: the poem in translation is half the length of the original.
"A love like ours will never die!"
The first collection of poems by Rudyard Kipling was published in England in 1886, when the author was 20 years old. And in the collection there was a poem in which the words were repeated several times, like an incantation:
"Love like ours can never die!" -
"A love like ours will never die!"
The poem was called The Lovers Litany.
Litany is a prayer, each sentence of which ends with the same phrase. A kind of prayer-spell. "Love like ours can never die!" - "A love like ours will never die!" - repeated the twenty-year-old Rudyard Kipling at the end of each of the five stanzas of the prayer poem.
In the original, the poem looks like this:
Eyes of gray - a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer wears to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.
Sing, for Faith and Hope are high -
None so true as you and I -
Sing the Lovers "Litany: -
Eyes of black - a throbbing keel,
Milky foam to left and right;
Whispered converse near the wheel
In the brilliant tropic night.
Cross that rules the Southern Sky!
Stars that sweep, and wheel, and fly,
Hear the Lovers "Litany: -
"Love like ours can never die!"
Eyes of brown - a dusty plain
Split and parched with heat of June,
Flying hoof and tightened rein,
Hearts that beat the old, old tune.
Side by side the horses fly,
Frame we now the old reply
Of the Lovers "Litany: -
"Love like ours can never die!"
Eyes of blue - the Simla Hills
Silvered with the moonlight hoar;
Pleading of the waltz that thrills,
Dies and echoes round Benmore.
"Mabel", "Officers", "Good-bye",
Glamor, wine, and witchery -
On my soul "s sincerity,
"Love like ours can never die!"
Maidens, of your charity,
Pity my most luckless state.
Four times Cupid "s debtor I -
Bankrupt in quadruplicate.
Yet, despite this evil case,
An a maiden showed me grace,
Four-and-forty times would I
Sing the Lovers "Litany: -
"Love like ours can never die!"
Kipling's poetic images are colored and are associated with memories of the poet's travels to India.
The first stanza is gray: the gray September sky in Essex, from where the steamer leaves for its long voyage, rain, wet pier, cheeks wet with tears, words of farewell.
The second stanza is black: a tropical night in the ocean, a steamer, sea foam along the sides, a whisper in the darkness of the night, the Southern Cross sparkling in the sky and a starfall.
The third stanza is brown: dusty steppe, earth cracked from the June heat, swiftly racing horses. And two hearts that are tapping out the old tune of lovers: "A love like ours will never die!"
The fourth stanza is blue: mountains silvered with moon frost, the sounds of a waltz that asks for you, trembles, freezes and echoes.
Four stanzas - four images: gray, black, brown, blue - and gray, black, brown and blue eyes of the girls in whom Rudyard Kipling was in love.
Four stanzas and four loves. Unsuccessful.
In the fifth stanza of the poem, the poet admits this: "Four times I am a debtor to Cupid - and four times bankrupt."
Vasily Betaki translated the poem close to the original.
Lovers' Prayer
Gray eyes ... And now -
Wet berth boards ...
Is it raining? Are there tears? Farewell.
And the steamer departs.
Our youth of the year ...
Faith and Hope? Yes -
Sing the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love you? So forever!
Brown eyes - space
Steppe, horses are racing side by side,
And hearts in the old tone
The stomp echoes the mountains ...
And the bridle is pulled
And then it sounds in my ears
Again the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love you? So forever!
Black eyes ... Shut up!
The whisper at the wheel lasts
Foam flows along the sides
Into the splendor of the tropical night
The Southern Cross is clearer than ice
The star falls again.
Here is the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love you? So forever!
Blue eyes ... Hills
Silver in the moonlight
And shivers in Indian summer
Waltz, beckoning into the thick of darkness.
“Officers… Mabel… When?
Witchcraft, wine, silence,
This sincerity of recognition -
Do we love you? So forever!
Yes ... But life looked gloomy,
Have pity on me: after all -
All in debt to Cupid
I am four times bankrupt!
And is it my fault?
If only one again
Smiled graciously
I would forty times then
He sang the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love you? So forever!
Free translation
The translation by Konstantin Simonov is almost half the length of the original. There are no final stanzas with spell words and specific place names - Southern Cross, India, no waltzes, no officers. No specifics at all. The colors of the first four stanzas have been preserved - four in love - "I am four times in debt to blue, gray, brown, black."
And prayer - prayer, of course, not ... Young people of the pre-war period in the USSR were mostly romantics and without exception atheists.
The poem, translated by Konstantin Simonov, is named after the first line: "Gray eyes - dawn ..."
* * *
Gray eyes - dawn
Steamer siren
Rain, parting, gray footprint
Behind the propeller of running foam.
Black eyes - heat
Sliding into the sea of sleepy stars,
And by the side until the morning
Reflection of kisses.
Blue eyes are the moon
Waltz white silence
Daily wall
Inevitable goodbye.
Brown eyes are sand
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.
No, I'm not a judge for them,
Just without absurd judgments
I'm in debt four times
Blue, gray, brown, black.
Like four sides
The same light
I love - there is no fault -
All four of these colors.
The poem "Gray eyes - dawn ..." is read by a cadet of the navigation department of the Murmansk Marine Fisheries College named after I.I. Mesyatseva Tom Antipov.
Rudyard Kipling
Lovers' Prayer
Grey eyes. - Sunrise,
Wet berth boards.
Is it raining? Are there tears? Farewell.
And the steamer departs ...
Our loyalty of the year ...
Faith and Hope? Yes:
Sing the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? So - forever! "
Black eyes. - Shut up!
The whisper at the wheel lasts.
Foam flows along the sides
Into the splendor of the tropical night
The Southern Cross is more transparent than ice.
The star falls again.
Here is the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? So - forever! "
Brown eyes. - Plenty.
Steppe. Horses are racing side by side.
And hearts in the old tone
The stomp echoes the mountains.
And - the bridle is pulled ...
And then it sounds in my ears
Again the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? So - forever! "
Blue eyes. - Hills
Silver in the moonlight
And shivers in Indian summer
A waltz beckoning into the thick of darkness ...
“Officers… Mabel… when? ..
Witchcraft. Wine. Silence ...
This sincerity of recognition:
“Do we love you? So - forever! "
Yes ... But life looked gloomy.
Have pity on me: after all -
All in debt to Cupid,
I am four times bankrupt!
And is it my fault?
If only one again
Smiled graciously
I would forty times then
He sang the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? So - forever! "
(Translated by V. Betaki)
Rudyard Kipling
(Translated by Konstantin Simonov)
Gray eyes - dawn
Steamer siren
Rain, parting, gray footprint
Behind the propeller of running foam.
Black eyes - heat
Sliding into the sea of sleepy stars,
And by the side until the morning
Reflection of kisses.
Blue eyes are the moon
Waltz white silence
Daily wall
Inevitable goodbye.
Brown eyes are sand
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.
No, I'm not a judge for them,
Just without absurd judgments
I'm in debt four times
Blue, gray, brown, black.
Like four sides
The same light
I love - there is no fault -
All four of these colors.
The Lovers' Litany
Eyes of gray - a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer puts to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.
Sing, for Faith and Hope are high -
None so true as you and I -
Sing the Lovers' Litany: -
"Love like ours never die!"
Eyes of black - a throbbing keel,
Milky foam to left and right;
Whispered converse near the wheel
In the brilliant tropic night.
Cross that rules the Southern Sky!
Stars that sweep, and turn, and fly
Hear the Lovers' Litany: -
"Love like ours never die!"
Eyes of brown - a dusty plain
Split and parched with heat of June.
Flying hoof and tightened rein,
Hearts that beat the ancient tune.
Side by side the horses fly,
Frame we now the old reply
Of the Lovers' Litany: -
"Love like ours never die!"
Eyes of blue - the Simla Hills
Silvered with moonlight hoar;
Pleading of the waltz that thrills,
Dies and echoes round Benmore.
“Mabel”, “Officers”, “Good-bye”,
Glamor, wine, and witchery -
On my soul's sincerity,
"Love like ours never die!"
Maidens, of your charity,
Pity my most luckless state,
Four times Cupid's debtor I -
Bankrupt in quadruplicate.
Yet, despite my evil case,
An a maiden showed me grace,
Four-and-forty times would I
Sing the Lovers' Litany: -
"Love like ours never die!"
Poems by Kipling, and I like them. I can wear out my own, but why, when there are such beautiful poems.
Gray eyes - dawn
Steamer siren
Rain, parting, gray footprint
Behind the propeller of running foam.
Black eyes - heat
Sliding into the sea of sleepy stars,
And by the side until the morning
Reflection of kisses.
Blue eyes are the moon
Waltz white silence
Daily wall
Inevitable goodbye.
Brown eyes are sand
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.
No, I'm not a judge for them,
Just without absurd judgments
I'm in debt four times
Blue, gray, brown, black.
Like four sides
The same light
I love - there is no fault -
All four of these colors.
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