Three poems by Lyudmila Knyazeva Translated from the Russian by Richard Coombes

1.

Ты родной мне по крови, по духу,
По способности к состраданию, доброте,
Мои мысли блуждают по кругу,
От тебя до тебя, от тебя к тебе. 

И слова, что придумали люди,
Побывавшие на подобной же глубине,
Устилают ковром, завиваются в вьюги,
И кружат в досягаемой высоте 

А душа всё нема, 
её голос лишен гортани,
От тебя до тебя, от тебя к тебе
Улетает она под пиратскими парусами.





In blood and spirit you are kin to me,
And in your gift for grace; compassion, too.
My thoughts make circles, never breaking free,
From you to you, from you and back to you.

And words constructed in the minds of others,
Because they’ve lingered every inch as deep,
Spread out like carpets, corkscrew into blizzards,
And circle, overhead but still in reach.

Or not in reach; my soul is perfectly mute,
Her voice shorn of the means to let her sound.
From you to you, from you and back to you,
With pirate sails a-flutter, she goes round.

2.

Я помню, мы где-то были
В туманных сумерках сна,
Как вы меня растворили
В хрустальных звуках дождя,

И я стала каплей без океана,
И я стала звуком дождя,
Волной без живого изьяна,
Ночью без проблесков дня

(25.02.2024)





I remember, or you told me,
We were drowsing, drifting, blind,
And I remember you dissolved me
In the rain’s crystalline,

And I became a drop without an ocean
And I became the crystal sound of rain,
No living flaw, a wave in motion,
Night without a glimmer of day

3.

Обними меня, милый мой друг, обними,
Я бы свила гнездо у тебя на груди,
Я бы тихо вздыхала там в теплой тиши,
Обними меня, милый мой друг, обними

Проплывали бы мимо времен корабли, 
Умирали бы в вечных боях короли,
Улетали бы души в иные миры,
Я бы мирно спала у тебя на груди




Hold me close, my friend, my darling, hold me close.
How I want to make my nest beside your heart
And in the quiet of your warmth there gently sigh.
Hold me close, my friend, my darling, hold me close.

Ships can sail on, leaving age on age behind,
Kings can die in battles repeating without end,
Souls can rise and fly away to other worlds;
I'll stay here, and sleep at peace beside your heart.

Lyudmila Knyazeva is a writer who lives and works quietly and privately not far from the Russian town of Asbest. English translations of her work have appeared in a variety of English-language magazines, including Right Hand Pointing, Steam Ticket, and the Los Angeles Review.

Richard Coombes has been a classics scholar, a musician, and an international tax specialist, and is now a literary translator. Richard’s published translations include short stories and poetry in literary journals; poetry in the bilingual World War II poetry collection ‘Frontovaya Lira’; and poetry in the bilingual anti-war anthologies ‘Disbelief’ and ‘Dislocation’. Richard’s translations of Elena Dolgopyat’s short story collection ‘Someone Else’s Life’ and ‘The Food Block’ (Alexei Ivanov’s novel «Пищеблок») are both now available worldwide.

8 May 2025