I'm a bit overdue on several promises, so here's the birthday present for Xiaoqing He:
I have to perform on a thousand stages,
In front of thousand youths' eyes.
How do vary the tribes of my country,
How vary the language and clothes they wear!
With effort, wiping the sweat off my brow
Squeeze myself through a narrow tunnel.
And with deafening whistle the fast express train,
Rushes away from the Kurskaya railway station(1).
Factories. From a forest to huts
Birch trees run by, rustling their leaves,
And the Moscow accent is clear and loud,
As in a play by a Moscow theater(2).
From beyond the horizons distorted by woods,
Clay-walled huts (3) rush to meet me.
And their colourful sides, underneath their thatched roofs,
Look so nice.
You may bring all the poems you wish or you like,
And you may be bursting with talent
But the lips of a simple ukrainian guy(4)
Will still be curled in a grin condescendingly.
Open spaces run by, you just leave them behind(5),
And the sun burns you down like a cooker.
And the train runs for Rostov,
Leavin Kharkov behind in it's smoke.
The fields - tons of bread grow around
As if shaped by a plane.
And surrounded by beautiful ochre-gold wheat,
Silver Don looks like gem-string of Kuban.
We roar like a train, till our throats are all soar,
And behold, here comes the Caucasus -
Some mountains are topped by the white sugar cones,
While others are lit by the fiery sun.
I fly through the gorges, with muted whistle,
Surrounded by white snows and papakhas (6).
Holding their daggers the Ingushes stand by,
And the Osetins look on from their saddles.
Mountain tops are all ice,
And their foot's hot, not nice.
And the Sun pours down iodine.
You can spot a Tiflisian (7) from a distance with ease,
They're strolling while hours are hot
Wearing trendiest hats and the pointiest shoes,
As if the were born in Paris.
Everyone learns the basics in their own little ways,
Even numbers for them are not similar.
Every third has his language,
And completely different nation.
Once after dropping my stuff ath a hotel,
I've forgotten the place where I slept.
So in Russian I've asked for the address and herd:
"Нэ чую." (8) from Ukrainian (9) guy.
But when they begin to discuss their science,
They feel crippled by Russian, that's why
The Tiflis academy writes to Kazan,
And receive their answers in French (10).
And I love Paris as much as I can
(The boulevards are so lovely by night)
But who cares for Baudelaire, or for Mallarmé
And all the old buggers alike.
But can we, yes, we who have walked through the flames,
Over waters, been fighting for ages,
Bring up our descendants, who'll inherit our land
Like French aimless dandies?
All you who've been blind, naked, muted and weak
Use the freedom of freedom of soviet nation.
Go look for your roots and the language you speak
In depth of philology ancient.
Look at your life without glasses or blinds,
And let your greedy eyes to absorb,
All that is good in your own native land,
And all that is good in the West.
But there's no place for evil,
Do not damn the red souls.
Comrades young men, it's Moscow you seek,
And it's Russian you all need to hear.
Even were I a negro, old, feeble and weak,
I would've done all that I can,
To learn Russian language, to be able to speak
As Lenin was speaking back then.
When October did fire with weapons of might,
When blood through the streets have been flowing,
The fate of all Kievs, Tiflises and such
Have been decided in Moscow.
Moscow isn't a lasso that takes us by force,
Makes the lands that belong to us follow,
I love not because I'm Russian,
But because it's a banner of flame.
I have three different roots that are stemming in me,
I'm not a plain old Muscovite,
My grandfather's a cossack, and another's from Sich (11)
And myself I've been born in Georgia.
So taking these roots and uniting them all,
I think I have full right to say
That I speak for you all Soviet Philistines(12).
And the rest that aren't cossacks(13).
I am heading to work. So later at night I will read it. Congratulations on the long translation of the poem. I will read it tonight. You are an amazing guy, Igor. She will by sure "enjoy" her present. :-) ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ #later
I know I'm a bit late, but better late than never, right?
For those of you who don't know what am I talking about, see here: (https://goo.gl/F1Cceh).
Now some comments for the translation:
The original poem in Russian (https://goo.gl/IybST3)
1 - "с курского" - it's Курский вокзал - one of the major railway terminals in Moscow
2 - МХАТ - one of the most renowned drama theatres in Moscow.
3 - мазанки - clay-walled huts characteristic for southern regions of Russia and Ukraine
4 - хлопец - actually a Ukrainian word for "guy", but often used in russian to describe a Ukrainian
5 - I have absolutely no idea of what "с хвоста нарастав" was supposed to mean
6 - papakha (папаха) - also known as astrakhan hat in English, is a wool hat worn by men throughout the Caucasus. (https://goo.gl/8zihbD)
7 - Tiflis - old (pre 1936) name of Tbilisi - the capital of Georgia
8 - "Нэ чую." - Ukrainian for "[I] don't understand"
9 - хохол (khokhol) - pejorative Russian term for Ukrainians
10 - before the revolution French was the language of Russian aristocracy. Almost anyone who was someone spoke it. There were children of the noble families who actually spoke French better than Russian.
11 - сечевик - a person from Запорожская сечь (https://goo.gl/mQOGMn). Synonym of Ukrainian cossack, as opposed to Russian (Don) cossacks. (https://goo.gl/imb8Y6)
12 - совмещане - presumably "советские мещане" - literally "soviet (petty) bourgeois" or " Soviet Philistines"
13 - русопет - pejorative term for someone who's nor a cossack.
If you have any questions regarding the translation or the rest of the poem - I'll be glad to answer them.
If anyone wants to improve on my translation - you're welcome!
I know the translation is rubbish, but have you ever tried to translate Mayakovsky after midnight?
Thank you for your kind words, Marissa. I've got something cooking for you too =) But not today, I'm afraid. I'm exhausted, and I've got another exhibition day tomorrow which means a lot of standing and talking. I have to get some sleep, sorry
great job Igor!
Thank you Igor!!! I dreamt about it last night and this appeared this morning... What a surprise! So kind of you, so I can study it tonight. I am sure you do great in explaining the exhibition. I look forward to coming visiting where you work in Moscow one day (if God wills!) With happiness and gratitude, Xiaoqing
And your translation flows... :)
Just a few words, I have difficulty in understanding the literal meaning of them
1. Ну, мало ли что — Бодлер, Малярмэ и этакое прочее!
2. борьбой прожжёнными
3. русопетов.
1. It's a bit hard to explain (and to understand, really). But "Ну, мало ли что" is something like "whatever". "этакое прочее" is "all the similar stuff". So the most literal translation, I suppose, is something like "Baudelaire, Mallarmé and all the rest of them - whatever". As far as I can understand it, he says that he loves France, but doesn't really care for its culture. Like "it's great, but it's not the only great thing in the world".
2. "прожжённый" - (literally "burned through"), is used figuratively to describe a person experienced and skilled in something". For example "прожженный игрок" - "a tough (skilled) gambler"."борьба" (literally "wrestling", but also used for "fighting, struggling") is a Soviet propaganda cliche, was used to describe the fight for communist ideals, against imperialism and so on. It was widely used to describe all the difficulties people have to overcome (and the ones that already have been overcome) to live in the ideal communist future.
so "борьбой прожжённые" - is something like "scarred and hardened by fighting" both literally and figuratively.
3. I've never heard this word before, and the structure of the last lines of the poem is hard even for me to fully comprehend, but here it says that the word was used to describe a non-cossack.
I do hope it's a bit more clear now. Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
thank you, Oleg!
Thank you Igor. :) Have a good weekend!
Igor, you're awesome!!!
thank you, Petr! I'm glad you like it
Igor,
It was amazing! You do really rock! I do not think is easy to translate poem at all, does not matter if it is in the morning or midnight, it is haaaaaard! Also, the author does not use language that you currently use (not that I know Russian) but I read the link about biography that Sergey sent us. So, I can imagine. So it is a lot of work. You really got the sense of the author. ♡♡♡♡♡ Also, you were extremely kind with all the little "notes" for more information. It was like reading a book, proper and formal. THANK YOU for lighting us up. I appreciate it. :-) ♡♡♡♡ Absolutely great work!
thanks, Marissa. people like you and Xiaoqing are the reason I write all this stuff. that and boredom =)
gosh! it's absolutely fantastic, Igor!
oh come now, Наташа. you're making me blush
That and boredom? Ok, I am glad we belong to the other side. Lol! :-)