Sonnet | I cried at twilight, when distances grew misty

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

See below for more information.

by Sergei Aleksandrovich Esenin (1895 - 1925)

Translation © by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941)

Сонет

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: CHI

Я плакал на заре, когда померкли дали,
Когда стелила ночь росистую постель,
И с шепотом волны рыданья замирали,
И где-то вдалеке им вторила свирель.
Сказала мне волна: «Напрасно мы тоскуем», --
И, сбросив, свой покров, зарылась в берега,
А бледный серп луны холодным поцелуем
С улыбкой застудил мне слезы в жемчуга.
И я принес тебе, царевне ясноокой,
Кораллы слез моих печали одинокой
И нежную вуаль из пенности волны.
Но сердце хмельное любви моей не радо...
Отдай же мне за все, чего не надо,
Отдай мне поцелуй за поцелуй луны.

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Sergei Aleksandrovich Esenin (1895 - 1925), "Сонет" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Сонет", 1990 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "十四行诗", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Leslie Crabtree) , "Sonnet", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Leslie Crabtree

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 88

Sonnet

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

I cried at twilight, when distances grew misty,
When night was making a dewy bed,
And my sobbing faded into the wave's whisper,
And somewhere far away a pipe echoed it.
The wave said to me: "In vain is our longing", --
And throwing off its spray, it broke against the shore,
As the pale crescent moon with a cold kiss
Smilingly froze my tears into jewels.
And I have brought to you, my clear-eyed princess,
The corals of my tears of lonely sorrow
And a tender veil from the wave's foam.
But my drunk heart is not happy with my love...
Give back to me from all those things you don't need,
Give back to me a kiss for the kiss of the moon.

Text Authorship:

by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Sonnet", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Sergei Aleksandrovich Esenin (1895 - 1925), "Сонет"
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 124