Translation of Poem by Evgeny Evtushenko, Евгений Евтушенко, "Раны," "Wounds (Hurt People Hurt People)"

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Евгений Евтушенко
(1933-2017)

Раны

Был я столько раз так больно ранен,
добираясь до дому ползком,
но не только злобой протаранен —
можно ранить даже лепестком.

Ранил я и сам — совсем невольно
нежностью небрежной на ходу,
а кому-то после было больно,
словно босиком ходить по льду.

Почему иду я по руинам
самых моих близких, дорогих,
я, так больно и легко ранимый
и так просто ранящий других?

1973

d

 

Literal Translation

Wounds

 

So many times I’ve been so painfully wounded,

That I’ve made it back home at a crawl,

But not only by malice smashed;

For even the petal of a flower can wound.

 

And I myself have wounded [others]; absolutely inadvertently,

By a casual tenderness on the fly,

But afterwards someone felt pain,

As if walking barefoot on ice.

 

Why do I go strolling through the ruins

Of those nearest and most dear to me,

I, who myself am so easily and so painfully wounded,

And who so casually wound others?

 

 

 

 

 

d

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

Hurt People Hurt People

(Wounds)

 

So often I’ve been wounded, sore offended,

knocked all askew, down on my hands and knees,

and not alone by malice sorely rended,

for the petal of a rose can wound with ease.

 

And inadvertently I’ve wounded brothers,  

by tenderness offhanded thinly sliced,

and afterward the pain was passed to others,  

who staggered on as if barefoot on ice.

 

Why do I trip lightly through the wreckage

Of lives of people near and dear I’ve maimed,

I who, wounded, painfully take umbrage,

Why am I so prone to mete out pain?