You remember,
No doubt you remember
Me standing
In a trance close by the wall.
Excitedly the floor you were pacing
And threw some hurtful words
In anguish, pain to cause.

You were saying:
It was time we parted,
That you were weary
Of all my rakish ways,
It’s time you ever started doing something,
While I was doomed
To fall, to slowly slide away.

Beloved!
You never, never loved me.
You didn’t know that in the crowds of men
Like winded horse I was in foam, worn out,
With spurs dug into sides by horseman bold.

You didn’t know
That in impervious gloom,
In our lives unfurled by tempest
I am tormented for I lack foresight
Of destination where fate will take us.

............

Beloved!
I tortured you,
I saw the anguish
In tired eyes:
That I, in front of you, for everyone to see
Just wasted life in fights and throwing fists.
But you, you didn't know,
That in impervious gloom,
In our lives unfurled by tempest
I am tormented for I lack foresight
Of destination where fate will take us.

.............

I beg to pardon me ...
I know, you’re not that other, mine,
That peacefully you live
With confident and clever husband.
That you no longer need our strife,
And that me too
You need not in the least, alas!

Just live the way
You’re guided by your star
Under the canopy of hopes’ renewal.
Saluting you,
Remembering all the time,
A friend of yours
Sergei Yesenin.

1924