Translation of Poem by Sergei Esenin, Сергей Есенин, "До свиданья, друг мой, до свиданья" THE FINAL POEM

 

 

Есенин, Сергей Александрович

 

 

Сергей Есенин

(1895-1925)

 

До свиданья, друг мой, до свиданья.
Милый мой, ты у меня в груди.
Предназначенное расставанье
Обещает встречу впереди.

До свиданья, друг мой, без руки, без слова,
Не грусти и не печаль бровей, —
В этой жизни умирать не ново,
Но и жить, конечно, не новей.

 1925

d

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

Fare thee well, my friend, goodbye to you;

Dear one, here in my heart I hold you fast.

Our separation foreordained don’t misconstrue,

For partings pledge reunions at long last. 

Fare thee well, my friend, no handshakes, no last word,

Knit not your brows in sorrow, be not blue—

In this life dying’s sad routine is trite, absurd,

But living disappoints as well—is nothing new.

 

d

 Translator’s Note

 Often interpreted as Esenin’s suicide note, this is the last poem he wrote, in his own blood. He explained to friends at the Angleterre Hotel, where he was staying in Leningrad, that this “crappy” (parshivyj) hotel didn’t have any ink available, so he had to use his own blood. On the evening of December 27, 1925, he committed suicide, by hanging, in his hotel room.