Mikhail Lermontov

Their love was so gentle, so long, and surprising,
With pining, so deep, and zeal, like a crazy uprising!
But, much like foes, they shunned their meetings, confessions…
And were cold and empty their short conversations.

They left each other in suffering, wordless and proud,
And only in dreams, saw the image beloved, farther.
Death had come and commenced their date in the world, that is out...
But they didn't discern in this new world each other.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, June, 1998
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, May, 2001