Fortnightly Issue #3
The mournful one
Hello, friends!
I was gathering the notes on books, cartoons, and games for this issue so it could be dedicated to vacation and leisurely activities. Very sadly though, yesterday a friend of my family died, and I’m in no mood to publish anything cheerful.
Instead, I want to share with you a poem by the late Sergey Perelyaev. He was a very kind and sincere man, brave in his struggles with the world which were quite many. He loved Indian cinema, and had even named one of his books after it. I will always remember him with a warm heart.
Леше нравилась Настя,
Ее глаза и коса.
Он ей говорит – а давай улетим,
Как шарики в небеса,
И навсегда останемся там,
Вдалеке от людей.
У Леши вообще в голове было много
Подобного рода идей.
Настя ему отвечала
-Больно уж высоко,
Мне дороже, пожалуй,
Здравие и покой.
Пусть себе улетают
Песни и колдуны,
Мы же люди простые,
Жить на земле должны.
Леша грустил сначала,
Сделался нелюдим,
Но Настя не ожидала,
Что он улетит один.
Стало ей как-то странно,
Вот ведь какой амур,
Леша в небесных странах –
Это уж чересчур.
Да и сам Леша вскорости
Без людей загрустил,
Ничего, кроме мороси,
Рядом не находил.
Так и живут они порознь –
Настя средь зим и лет,
А Леша в далеком космосе
Средь ледяных планет.
Although the poem is in Russian, I took the liberty to translate it to English. Not that I expect to have caught everything, but I really tried and here goes my translation:
Alex was in love with Nancy,
In love with her eyes and braid.
He told her — let's fly away
Like balloons, to the skies
And always stay there,
Far away from the folks.
Alex has had a great many
Ideas like that in his head.
Nancy denied his offer:
— That is too much of a height,
I hold more dear, rather,
Sanity and comfort.
Let them songs and warlocks
Easily fly away,
We are but common people,
Earth-bound to live and be.
Alex turned sad and withdrawn,
Lonely his days became,
Though Nancy could not expect that
Alone to fly he would dare.
Hers was a weird feeling:
What of a cupid is him?
Alex in heavenly regions,
This is just over the brim.
Distant from people, Alex
Quickly grew sad again,
Nothing except for the drizzle
Could he observe within.
So are they away from each other —
Nancy through days and nights,
And Alex in the distant void,
Among the planets of ice.
As I said, Sergey was very sincere and I think one can feel it in his poetry. If you like his poem, and if you know Russian, visit his author’s page and read some more.
Thank you,
Phil