Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Translations: The Bestest of the Best, TWENTY-ONE, Vladislav Khodasevich, "Так бывает почему-то," SO IT HAPPENS; WHO KNOWS WHY?

 


Vladislav Khodasevich

(1886-1939)

 

Так бывает почему-то:
Ночью, чуть забрезжат сны —
Сердце словно вдруг откуда-то
Упадает с вышины.

Ах!—и я в постели. Только
Сердце бьется невпопад.
В полутьме с ночного столика
Смутно смотрит циферблат.

Только ощущеньем кручи
Ты еще трепещешь вся —
Легкая моя, падучая,
Милая душа моя!

25 сентября 1920

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Literal Translation

For some reason it happens that way:

In the night dreams faintly glimmer—

Your heart, as if suddenly from somewhere,

Falls from the heights.

 

Ahh! So then I’m in bed. Only

My heart is beating irregularly.

In the half darkness from the night table

Gazes dimly the face of the clock.

 

From only the sensation of a precipice

You’re still trembling all over,

My light, my falling,

My dear soul!

 

 

d

 

 

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

So it happens; who knows why?

Dead of night, the faint dreams gleaming;

When, wham! as if from somewhere high

Your heart’s in freefall silently screaming . . .

 

Ahhh . . . awaken! . . . So I’m in bed,

With heartbeats pounding out of sync now . . .

Through half-dark murk the clock’s thick head

Peers dimly at me, seems to wink now.

 

From that chimera of a swoon

You tremble still in rigmarole;

You lie and shudder, bay at moon,

My dear, collapsing, fragile soul!