Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Translation of Poem by EVGENY EVTUSHENKO, Евгений Евтушенко, "Дай бог," "GOD GRANT"

 


Евгений Евтушенко

(1933-2017)

Дай бог

Дай бог слепцам глаза вернуть
и спины выпрямить горбатым.
Дай бог быть богом хоть чуть-чуть,
но быть нельзя чуть-чуть распятым.

 

Дай бог не вляпаться во власть
и не геройствовать подложно,
и быть богатым — но не красть,
конечно, если так возможно.

 

Дай бог быть тертым калачом,
не сожранным ничьею шайкой,
ни жертвой быть, ни палачом,
ни барином, ни попрошайкой.

 

Дай бог поменьше рваных ран,
когда идет большая драка.
Дай бог побольше разных стран,
не потеряв своей, однако.

 

Дай бог, чтобы твоя страна
тебя не пнула сапожищем.
Дай бог, чтобы твоя жена
тебя любила даже нищим.

 

Дай бог лжецам замкнуть уста,
глас божий слыша в детском крике.
Дай бог живым узреть Христа,
пусть не в мужском, так в женском лике.

 

Не крест — бескрестье мы несем,
а как сгибаемся убого.
Чтоб не извериться во всем,
Дай бог ну хоть немного Бога!

 

Дай бог всего, всего, всего
и сразу всем — чтоб не обидно…
Дай бог всего, но лишь того,
за что потом не станет стыдно.

                                                                 1990

 

d

 

Literal Translation

 

God Grant

 

God grant to the blind that they get their eyes back

And that the hunchbacked have spines made straight.

God grant [one] to be in some small degree a god,

But in no small degree need one be crucified.

 

God grant us not to blunder into power [roughly: get mixed up in politics]

And not to play the phony hero,

And to be rich—but not to steal,

If, of course, that’s possible.

 

God grant [us] a freshly grated loaf of bread (roll)

Not chomped on by anyone’s gang,

[God grant us] to be neither a sacrifice (victim) nor a hangman,

Neither a nobleman, nor a panhandler.

 

God grant we end up with few lacerations

When we get in a big fight.

God grant there be more of all different countries,

Assuming we don’t lose our own, that is.

 

God grant that your own country

Not kick you with a big clodhopper.

God grant that your wife

Love you even if you’re destitute.

 

God grant that liars keep it quiet

When they hear the voice of God in the cry of a child.

God grant that the living get to see Christ Himself,

If not in the face of man, then in the face of woman.

 

We bear not a cross; we bear crosslessness,

But how wretchedly it bends us down.

In order not to lose faith in everything,

God grant [us] at least a little bit of God!

 

God grant everything, everything, everything

And immediately to all; so as not to offend anyone . . .

God grant everything, but only the sort of things

For which later on we won’t feel ashamed.

 

 

d

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

God Grant

 

God grant to the blind their sight to return,

To the hunchbacks straight spines, sans afflictions.

God grant some small godliness humans may learn,

But spare us the whips, crucifixions. 

 

God grant that we lord over none, nobody,

And not play the hero, or flaunt fakery,  

Make lots of money—but honest still be,

Or does money come only with dishonesty?

 

God grant us a nice slice of freshly baked bread,

Not chomped on by vile creeps and goonies,

And spare us beheading, but let’s not behead, 

Be neither a grandee, a beggar or loonie.

 

God grant when involved in a nasty melee

We come out with only a few lacerations.

As long as we have our own dam and spillway,

May rivers and spillways flow on in all nations.

 

God grant us not to be kicked in the butt

By the boot of our homeland (a great big clodhopper).

God grant that your wife learn to keep her mouth shut,

And love you and cherish, even if you’re a pauper.

 

God grant that the liars don’t set the zeitgeist,

Let’s hear God’s sweet voice in a child’s galimatias.

God grant that we mortals can somehow see Christ,

If not in men’s faces, then womanly faces.

 

Though we bear not a cross we bear crosslessness,

Which bends us and weighs us most wretchedly down.

So as not to lose heart and feel lostlessness,

God grant us a wee bit of God in the round.

 

God grant us our wishes, our all, everything,

And so’s to be fair, may He grant grace to all . . .

But please God, don’t grant us some vile anything

For which later on we’ll lament, moan and bawl.

 

 


декламирует Евтушенко:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRegLrn2Enw&ab_channel=MikhailMorgulis


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