Yesterday we met | Yesterday we met: she halted

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by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898)

Translation © by Anton Bespalov, Rianne Stam

Вчера мы встретились: ‑‑ она...

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

Вчера мы встретились: -- она остановилась --
Я также -- мы в глаза друг другу посмотрели.
О Боже, как она с тех пор переменилась,
В глазах потух огонь, и щёки побледнели.
И долго на неё глядел я молча строго --
Мне руку протянув, бедняжка улыбнулась;
Я говорить хотел -- она же ради Бога
Велела мне молчать, и тут же отвернулась,
И брови сдвинула, и выдернула руку,
И молвила: «Прощайте, до свиданья.»
А я хотел сказать: «На вечную разлуку
Прощай, погибшее, но милое созданье.»

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Text Authorship:

by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), "Встреча", written 1844 [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 Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Вчера мы встретились", op. 26 (Пятнадцать романсов = Pjatnadcat' romansov (Fifteen songs)) no. 13 (1906) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Anton Bespalov) (Rianne Stam) , "Yesterday we met", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 78

Yesterday we met

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Yesterday we met: she halted.
and so did I... We looked each other in the eyes...
O, God! How she had changed with all that time
The fire in her eyes extinguished, her cheeks grown pale...
And for a long time I stared at her, silently, severely...
My hand stretched out, the poor little soul smiled;
I wanted to speak; but she, for the sake of God,
ordered me to remain silent, and there and then turned away,
and knitted her brows, and pulled away her hand,
and spoke: farewell, goodbye!
While I wanted to say: in eternal separation
farewell, ruined, but sweet creature!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © by Anton Bespalov and Rianne Stam, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), "Встреча", written 1844
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 104