Translation of Poem by A.A. Fet, "Какая холодная осень!" "How cold are the woods in the fall!"

                                                                    Nesterov, "Taking the Veil"

A.A. Fet

 

Какая холодная осень!
Надень свою шаль и капот.
Смотри, — из-за дремлющих сосен
Как будто пожар восстаёт.

Сияние северной ночи
Я помню всегда близ тебя:
И светят фосфо́рные очи,
Да только не греют меня.

 

<1854>

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Literal Translation

What a cold fall!

Put on your shawl and capote.

Look: from beyond the slumbering pines

It’s as if a fire were rising up.

 

The glitter of the northern night

I recall always when near you.

And the phosphorous eyes glisten,

Only they do not warm me.

 

 

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

How cold are the woods in the fall!

Mind, put on your shawl and your cloak.

Look there—where the pines form a wall,

A fire seems to rise without smoke.

 

The northern lights glow, undulate,

While near you I bring them to mind.

The phosphorous eyes scintillate,

But that glow is to warmth disinclined.  

                                                                    1854

 

Translator’s Note

Ivan Bunin, who loved Fet’s poetry, often made reference to bits and pieces of various poems in his fiction. The poem above is the centerpiece of the Bunin short story, “The Cold Fall.” See Ivan Bunin, Night of Denial: Stories and Novellas (translated from the Russian with notes and a critical afterword by R. Bowie), Northwestern University Press, 2006.