Владимир Набоков
(1899-1977)
Ласточка
Однажды мы под вечер оба
стояли на старом мосту.
Скажи мне, спросил я, до гроба
запомнишь вон ласточку ту?
И ты отвечала: еще бы!
И как мы заплакали оба,
как вскрикнула жизнь на лету…
До завтра, навеки, до гроба —
однажды, на старом мосту…
Literal Translation
The Swallow
Once toward evening the
two of us
Were standing on an old
bridge.
Tell me, I asked, to the
grave
Will you remember that
swallow there?
And you answered: Of course!
And how the two of us wept,
How life on the fly
cried out . . .
Until tomorrow, for
ages, to the grave—
Once on an old bridge .
. .
d
Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie
The Swallow
One day close to
gloaming’s first sigh,
You and I on a bridge
near the shore.
See that swallow, I
said, that swooped by;
In your mind till we die
will she soar?
And you answered, She will;
I swear!
With what fervor the both
of us wept,
How the life-bird cried
out on the fly!
Till we die and for eons
windswept,
On an old bridge at
gloaming’s first sigh.
d
Translation by Vladimir Nabokov
(with new bird in title role)
The Swift
One night between sunset
and river
On an old bridge we
stood, you and I.
Will you ever forget it,
I queried,
That particular swift that
went by?
And you answered, so
earnestly: Never!
And what sobs made us
suddenly shiver,
What a cry life emitted
in flight!
Till we die, till
tomorrow, for ever,
You and I on the old bridge
one night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdn5SxFAMEg&ab_channel=JiffySpook
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