Translation of Poem by Fyodor Tyutchev, "Накануне годовщины 4 августа 1864 г., "On the Eve of the Anniversary of August 4, 1864"

 Elena Denisieva  With Her Daughter Elena; Only About Three Years After This Photograph Was Made, Both of Them Were Dead

Федор Тютчев

(1803-1873)

Накануне годовщины 4 августа 1864 г.

Вот бреду я вдоль большой дороги
В тихом свете гаснущего дня…
Тяжело мне, замирают ноги…
Друг мой милый, видишь ли меня?
Все темней, темнее над землею —
Улетел последний отблеск дня…
Вот тот мир, где жили мы с тобою,
Ангел мой, ты видишь ли меня?
Завтра день молитвы и печали,
Завтра память рокового дня…
Ангел мой, где б души ни витали,
Ангел мой, ты видишь ли меня?

August 3, 1865

 

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Literal Translation

 

On the Eve of the Anniversary of August 4, 1864

 

Now I wander along the highroad

In the quiet light of the expiring day . . .

I feel bad, my legs feel rooted to the spot . . .

My dear friend, do you see me?

All is growing darker, darker over the earth –

The last reflection of the day has flown off . . .

Here is that world where you and I lived,

My angel, do you see me?

Tomorrow is a day of prayer and sorrow,

Tomorrow is the memory of that fatal day . . .

My angel, wherever your soul might be hovering,

My angel, do you see me?

 

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Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

On the Eve of the Anniversary of August 4, 1864

 So here I am, I wander highroad weary,

In quiet light of day as daylight dies . . .

So sick at heart, my legs can hardly bear me . . .

My dear friend, do you see me, hear my sighs?

 

Darker grows the dimness, and sheer dark envelops earth—

The final glint of daylight just flew off to some elsewhere . . .

This is the world where you and I once lived with joy and mirth,

My angel, do you see me, are you there?

 

Tomorrow is a day of prayer and grieving,

Tomorrow is the memory of that fatal, dreadful day . . .

My angel, is your soul still there, awake, or unperceiving,

My angel, can you see my anguish, my dismay?

 

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Translator’s Note

(From Wikipedia)

The poem above is dated August 3, 1865, exactly—as the title reveals—a year and a day before the anniversary of Elena Denisieva’s death. In 1850 Tyutchev began an illicit affair with Denisieva (1826-1864), who was over twenty years younger than him. She remained his mistress until her death from TB in 1864, bearing him three children, two of whom died within less than a year after their mother’s death, also of tuberculosis. After the children’s death in May, 1865, the poet wrote as follows in a letter: “I began not a single day without a certain sense of amazement, the way a person continues to go on living, although his heart has been ripped out and his head cut off.”

 

Tyutchev’s love poems that came out of the affair, the so-called “Denisieva Cycle,” are considered among the finest love lyrics in the Russian language.