Translation of Poem by Evgeny Evtushenko, Евгений Евтушенко, "Со мною вот что происходит," MISAPPREHENSIONS (The Way Things Are With Me)

 

Евгений Евтушенко

Evgeny Evtushenko

(1932-2017) 

For Bella Akhmadulina

Со мною вот что происходит:
ко мне мой старый друг не ходит,
а ходят в мелкой суете
разнообразные не те.
И он
не с теми ходит где-то
и тоже понимает это,
и наш раздор необъясним,
и оба мучимся мы с ним.
Со мною вот что происходит:
совсем не та ко мне приходит,
мне руки на плечи кладёт
и у другой меня крадёт.
А той -
скажите, бога ради,
кому на плечи руки класть?

Та,
у которой я украден,
в отместку тоже станет красть.
Не сразу этим же ответит,
а будет жить с собой в борьбе
и неосознанно наметит
кого-то дальнего себе.
О, сколько
нервных
и недужных,
ненужных связей,
дружб ненужных!
Куда от этого я денусь?!
О, кто-нибудь,
приди,
нарушь
чужих людей соединённость
и разобщённость
близких душ!

1957

 

d

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

Misapprehensions

(The Way Things Are With Me)

                                                                                             For Bella Akhmadulina

Here's the way things are with me:

My best friend won’t come to see me,

But scads of others, a dork, say, a lout

Come messing around and screwing about.

While he,

He’s somewhere out there

With dorks of his own,

Aware of the problem, solution unknown,

And our falling out not one soul can explain,

But it torments us both,

And we’re both feeling pain.

 

Here's the way things are with me:

A girl I’ve no use for comes to see me,

Upon my shoulders her hands she does lay,

And from a girl I have need of

She steals me away.

While she (the one for whom my feelings long)

For God’s sake!

Who’s she got left to put her hands upon?

 

She

(The one from whom I was stolen away)

Starts stealing as well, for some payback, let’s say.

She’ll not know exactly why she’s getting even,

At odds with herself, she’ll be plotting and scheming,

And she’ll seek for some something,

Go looking for love,

With a dork of a someone

She has no need of.

 

O, how many there are of these

Nerve-wracking,

And morbid,

And useless

Liaisons;

How many
Of friendships

That we have no use for!

Where do I go to get shed of this problem?

 

O, somebody, please,

Come,

Disassemble,

Un-connect,

Take apart

All the bonds and the ties and connections

Of people who are strangers to one another,

And reconnect,

Put back together,

Rewire

The disconnections,

Disengagements,

Misapprehensions

Of souls

That to souls

Are so near

And so dear!

 

 

 S. Nikitin sings the song from the film, "The Irony of Fate," music by M. Tariverdiev

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZV4Ga0N_Jw