My Dearest Friend Branka,
Thank you for your post. Yes, these are my favorite authors also. You have a big heart to understand Vladimir Mayakovsky's poetry, as not all Russian speaking people can understand him.
My native tongue is Russian, and I was born in Russian family, but in Latvia :) My family moved to Sevastopol in Ukraine after my father retired.
As for Lermontov, his Hero of Our Time novel, I love it like you, and it turned my world over, I felt like my eyes opened after reading it, and I started seeing and understanding this world much better.
Lermontov was a very gifted poet and also artist.
Here is his self-portrait.
Click on it and listen a song about Yugoslavia, it performed by Russian singer Lena Katina (of t.a.t.u.)
Your language and Russian are alike in some ways, and sometimes I could understand what I read.
Here is English version of Konstantin Simonov's poem Wait For Me (Zhdi Menya) that he devoted to his wife. It was written in 1941, when Great Patriotic War began:
Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait with all you've got!
Wait, when dreary yellow rains
Tell you, you should not.
Wait when snow is falling fast,
Wait when summer's hot,
Wait when yesterdays are past,
Others are forgot.
Wait, when from that far-off place,
Letters don't arrive.
Wait, when those with whom you wait
Doubt if I'm alive.
Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait in patience yet
When they tell you off by heart
That you should forget.
Even when my dearest ones
Say that I am lost,
Even when my friends give up,
Sit and count the cost,
Drink a glass of bitter wine
To the fallen friend -
Wait! And do not drink with them!
Wait until the end!
Wait for me and I'll come back,
Dodging every fate!
"What a bit of luck!" they'll say,
Those that would not wait.
They will never understand
How amidst the strife,
By your waiting for me, dear,
You had saved my life.
Only you and I will know
How you got me through.
Simply - you knew how to wait -
No one else but you.
Russian version:
Жди меня, и я вернусь.
Только очень жди,
Жди, когда наводят грусть
Желтые дожди,
Жди, когда снега метут,
Жди, когда жара,
Жди, когда других не ждут,
Позабыв вчера.
Жди, когда из дальних мест
Писем не придет,
Жди, когда уж надоест
Всем, кто вместе ждет.
Жди меня, и я вернусь,
Не желай добра
Всем, кто знает наизусть,
Что забыть пора.
Пусть поверят сын и мать
В то, что нет меня,
Пусть друзья устанут ждать,
Сядут у огня,
Выпьют горькое вино
На помин души...
Жди. И с ними заодно
Выпить не спеши.
Жди меня, и я вернусь,
Всем смертям назло.
Кто не ждал меня, тот пусть
Скажет: - Повезло.
Не понять, не ждавшим им,
Как среди огня
Ожиданием своим
Ты спасла меня.
Как я выжил, будем знать
Только мы с тобой,-
Просто ты умела ждать,
Как никто другой.
1941
These are extracts from Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem Cloud In Trousers
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"Of grandfatherly gentleness I'm devoid, There's not a single grey hair in my soul! Thundering the world with the might of my voice, I go by-handsome, twenty-two-year-old."
More:
People sniff - there's a smell of burnt flesh! Here come some men. All shining! In helmets! No heavy boots please! Tell the firemen to go gently when the heart's on fire. (from Cloud in Trousers)
- Vladimir Mayakovsky "Cloud in Trousers," 1915
Vladimir Mayakovsky Click and listen to this song!
You are a strong woman, Branka! You are flying in your life, you was not made to and you can't creep.
I attended church this morning, said my prayers for you and your family, and asked God to console and strengthen all of you. I will keep you in my prayers.
God bless you and yours.
Natalya
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