Gray eyes - dawn. Rudyard Kipling

Introduction

When you hear the name Rudyard Kipling, the first ones that come to mind are his fairy tales “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” and “The Jungle Book”. These are some of the most famous works, and in both the action takes place in India, which is far from us.

No wonder, because Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in India, in Bombay. After spending five happy years of his life there, he left for England. He returned only 17 years later, in October 1882, when he got a job as a journalist in the editorial office of the Civil and Military Newspaper in Lahore.

And a little later, in 1986, Kipling’s first poetry collection, “Departmental Ditties and Other Verses”, was published, and in it was the poem “The Lovers" Litany", the analysis of the translations of which is the subject of my course work.

My goal is to show the difference in translations of the same poem depending on the use of nouns in them. Coursework consists of an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion.

The first chapter is devoted to the original poem, its history and detailed analysis, the second chapter is to the analysis of the translation by Vasily Betaki, the third is to Konstantin Simonov, the fourth is reserved for summing up and statistical comparison.

The volume of work is 9 pages in Word format, font size - 12, spacing - 1.

Chapter one. Original.

Working for a provincial newspaper is not easy work. She went out six times a week, and the more desirable were the annual holidays in the beloved place of the British, Simla, where one could escape the scorching heat. It was on one of these vacations that “The Lovers" Litany” was written.

Litany is special shape prayers where the same phrase is repeated at the end of each sentence. In our case, it’s not “Lord have mercy!”, but “Love like ours can never die!” - “A love like ours will never die!”

The Lovers" Litany

Eyes of gray - a sodden quay,

Driving rain and falling tears,

As the steamer wears to sea

In a parting storm of cheers.

Sing, for Faith and Hope are high -

None so true as you and I -

Sing the Lovers" Litany: -

Eyes of black - a throbbing keel,

Milky foam to left and right;

Whispered converse near the wheel

In the brilliant tropic night.

Cross that rules the Southern Sky!

Stars that sweep, and wheel, and fly,

Hear the Lovers" Litany: -

“Love like ours can never die!”

Eyes of brown - a dusty plain

Split and parched with heat of June,

Flying hoof and tightened rein,

Hearts that beat the old, old tune.

Side by side the horses fly,

Frame we now the old reply

Of the Lovers" Litany: -

“Love like ours can never die!”

Eyes of blue - the Simla Hills

Silvered with the moonlight hoar;

Pleading of the waltz that thrills,

Dies and echoes around Benmore.

"Mabel", "Officers", "Good-bye",

Glamor, wine, and witchery -

On my soul's sincerity,

“Love like ours can never die!”

Maidens, of your charity,

Pity my most luckless state.

Four times Cupid's debtor I -

Bankrupt in quadruplicate.

Yet, despite this evil case,

An a maiden showed me grace,

Four-and-forty times would I

Sing the Lovers" Litany: -

“Love like ours can never die!”

The poem is divided into five stanzas, at the end of each the same phrase is repeated as a refrain, and the stanzas themselves are like cells in an artist’s palette.

The first one is given over to gray paint; everything here is painted gray: gray eyes, a gray, wet embankment, dull bad weather - rain, tears of farewell, a storm and a steamer... Faith and Nadezhda are also painted gray, no longer pitch black, but not yet joyful white. But in their name the Litany of All Lovers is sung - “A love like ours will never die!”

The second cell, that is, the stanza, is black, the color of burning passion.

How they sing about hot summer nights, when the whole world is hidden from prying eyes, when love and passion reign... after the grayness of farewell on the pier, the black color of the southern night brought new love with black eyes, and everything turned black, everything was hidden under a veil of darkness: the steamer, and the foam along the sides, only the Southern Cross shines in the heights, only a whisper is heard. And the Litany of Lovers is heard - “A love like ours will never die!”

The third stanza-cell - and the eyes are already brown, and everything has already turned brown. Dusty steppe, June heat, brown horses carry two people into the distance. And the hooves seem to knock in unison with the hearts - “A love like ours will never die!”

But here is the fourth stanza - and a calmer one blue. These are the mountains around Simla, silvered by moonlight, these are the waltzes that were so popular then - “Mabel”, “Officers”, “Farewell”, this is wine, glitter and charm. Blue is the color of romance, and blue eyes the partners echo the poet’s soul: “A love like ours will never die!”

But it all ends, and the fifth stanza seems to mix up the previous ones, sums it up - “four times I am Cupid’s debtor - and four times bankrupt.” Four unsuccessful love stories, but if there was still a girl who showed favor to the poet, then he is ready to sing the Litany of Lovers forty-four times: “A love like ours will never die!”

Thus, Kipling tells us four color, monochrome stories, draws pictures different colors, bringing everything into one summary. Who knows, perhaps under a different set of circumstances we would have seen the picture in green?..

Like a puzzle, a picture is assembled from individual pieces, and now we are together with the poet - saying goodbye to our beloved on a gray pier, giving in to passion in the southern night, rushing side by side across a dusty plain and dancing a waltz among the frost-covered mountains.

Chapter two. The most accurate translation.

Kipling's poem "The Lovers" Litany", imbued with romance, is and has been very popular in Russia. Thus, one of the first translations of it was made by Vasily Betaki. Here, the difficult word for us "litany" became simply "prayer", but the structure of the poem remained the same. Here it is:

Lovers' Prayer

Gray eyes... And so -

Boards wet berth…

Rain is it? Tears is it? Farewell.

And leaves steamship.

Our youth of the year…

Faith And Hope? Yes -

Sing prayer to all lovers:

Do we love? That means forever!

Black eyes...Be quiet!

Whisper at helm lasts

Foam along sides flows

IN shine tropical nights.

Southern Cross more transparent ice,

Falls again star.

Here prayer to all lovers:

Do we love? That means forever!

Brown eyes- space,

Steppe, side O side rushing horses,

AND hearts in the ancient tone

Echoes the tramp echoes of the mountains…

And stretched bridle,

And in ears sounds then

Again prayer to all lovers:

Do we love? That means forever!

Blue eyes… Hills

Silvered by the moon light,

And trembles Indian in summer

Waltz, beckoning in thick of darkness.

- Officers… Mabel… When?

Witchcraft, wine, silence,

This sincerity of confession-

Do we love? That means forever!

Yes... But life looked gloomily

Have pity on me: after all,

All in debts before Cupid

I - four times bankrupt!

And is it mine? guilt?

If only one again

Smiled benevolently

I would forty times then

Sang prayer to all lovers:

Do we love? That means forever!

The litany here is modified, the refrain already sounds like a question and an answer to it: “Do we love? That means forever! The meaning and style are conveyed with minor changes. The “wet pier boards” are painted gray again, gray rain – or tears? Farewell seems to be covered with clouds, sadness, and the gray color of melancholy. A gray steamer departs and immediately - “of our youth” - they depart and remain on the pier, together with Vera and Nadezhda? And only the life-affirming “Do we love? That means forever!”, forcing us to quickly move on to the next chapter of life, to the next color.

It would seem, what stylistic devices does the author use? The enumeration of nouns paints a picture before us, as if in an old black and white film. Is rain identified with tears—or are tears with rain? And along with the departing ship, the years of youth also pass away, leaving only faith and hope.

The second stanza seems to be built on contrast - the black color of the southern night and the bright shine of the stars. “Be quiet!” - the author calls on us... or not us, but that girl with black eyes, and now a whisper is heard at the helm, black foam flows along the sides and - here it is, the contrast - “in the brilliance of the tropical night” - Southern Cross “ clearer than ice", "a star falls from the sky" - perhaps a hint that you can make a wish? “Do we love you? That means forever!

How the southern night here is given the shine of stars - but does it really shine? So the constellation of the Southern Cross becomes transparent, even more transparent than ice.

The third stanza - and we are rushing along with the horses across the hot June steppe, and in our ears, along with the clatter of hooves and the beating of hearts, the prayer of lovers is heard - “Do we love? That means forever!

Here the picture becomes even more interesting: “... and the hearts in an ancient tone are echoed by the stomping echo of the mountains.” What a complex image! After all, the clatter of the hooves of horses racing across the expanse of the hot Indian steppe not only “echoes”, repeats the echo (although usually the opposite is true), but also in an ancient tone. And, really, isn’t love an ancient, time-tested feeling? Wasn’t it experienced a hundred, two hundred, several thousand years ago?..

This stanza is the fastest, the brightest, the most energetic in the entire poem. How do the words sound: space, tramp, echo of the mountains... Don’t they paint a fast, dynamic picture?

The fourth stanza - and a smooth transition to the color blue, to the waltz. Here is the romance of another, mountain night, where the high moon illuminates the hills with silver. A waltz sounds here - magical, alluring...

Here the hills seem to be silvered by moonlight - how beautiful! But are we used to snow on the hills? Of course, there are mountains around Simla, but what can you do for beautiful image. And how beautiful it is to imagine that the moon paints the tops of the hills in a silver color, and not the dangerous and high snow-capped peaks. Moreover, “the waltz trembles in the Indian summer, beckoning into the depths of darkness.” There is also a lot hidden in these lines: the dark nights of the Indian, hot summer, and the waltz, with its sounds setting you in the right mood. He trembles like the air in the heat, trembles like the heart of a hero from the sight, feeling, touch of his next love.

“Officers”, “Mabel” are just names of waltzes, and the answer to the question will only be silence. But such an eloquent: “Do we love? That means forever!”

And again the fifth stanza brings a disappointing conclusion. True, Kipling’s forty-four is reduced to forty, but is that important? “All in debt to Cupid” - alas, the laughing angel Cupid, the god of love, does not ask at what moment to send his arrow. And we owe this wonderful feeling, and Kipling - more than once.

Four lived-in romances, four breakups and hope for the future. And the prayer for lovers will sound as long as our planet revolves, as long as we live on it. And love.

Chapter three or where it all went.

The second translation of the poem “The Lovers" Litany" is perhaps the least accurate, but at the same time the most concise. Konstantin Simonov completely moved away from Kipling’s style, and this poem can no longer be called a prayer. That’s why it began to be called after the first line: “ Gray eyes - dawn."

Gray eyes - dawn

Gray eyes- dawn,

Steamship siren,

Rain, parting, grey track

For screw running foam.

Black eyes- heat,

IN sea sleepy stars sliding,

And sides to morning

Kisses reflection.

Blue eyes- moon,

Waltz white silence,

Daily wall

Inevitable goodbyes.

Brown eyes- sand,

Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,

Horse racing, all on hair

From falls And flight.

No I don't judge for them,

Just without judgments absurd

I'm four times debtor

Blue, grey, brown, black.

Like four sides

Same thing Sveta,

I love - that's not it guilt-

All four of these colors.

There are no big colorful turns of phrase here, just a listing, but it conveys as much as the original and Betaka’s translation.

The structure itself is different here. Each eye color includes a whole picture, a captured moment. Captured in fragmentary words. In short, precise strokes of nouns.

Their abundance immediately catches the eye. Here the color conveys everything - gray eyes and gray rain, separation, a trace on the sea from a departing steamer, foam on the water.

The second stanza - and more atmosphere is conveyed than images. Here the sea is already sleepy stars, the Southern Cross is forgotten, like the whisper. There are only kisses until the morning... and who says anything about the equator?

Again, sleepy, lazy stars are also an image that can convey all the charm of the southern night. I note that there is still a hint of movement here - after all, the stars glide across the sea, and, therefore, we ourselves move, only very, very slowly. And the sea - the sea spies on everything that is happening on the deck, how kisses are reflected in the water all night - until the morning...

Blue eyes - the moon and the same waltz, but at the same time the “daily wall of inevitable farewell” - something about which Kipling doesn’t say a word. But “the waltz is white silence” - The waltz is silent... why? It is possible that at such moments words are not needed and the music will speak for itself. Without words... But why then - white? Are the ladies’ dresses white, or is the beautiful witch Luna playing a role here again, painting the ballroom in white? Or is silence simply when there is nothing to say? There are no words, because they are not needed - why talk to those who know for sure that they will soon separate? That is why there is an inevitable, inevitable, daily wall of this inevitable farewell, which comes after every melody - and after a rest in the mountains of Simla.

But the next stanza is filled with nouns. Their enumeration gives dynamics to the passage, like the clatter of hooves: sand, autumn, steppe, hunting, galloping, “all within a hair’s breadth of falling and flying.” And we ourselves fly, take off from the ground.

Here the wolf is a deserted, hot, bare steppe, and the leap - either a fall or a flight - cannot be understood immediately. That’s why the phrase “... on the verge of falling and flying” is interesting. The horses are flying, carrying, now up, now down, and you can no longer understand whether you are falling or flying. So it is in the love that surrounds our hero in brown - either a fall, or a flight, or a fragile edge.

But Simonov’s fifth stanza of Kipling was divided into two. And here the attitude of the lyrical hero is different. He is four times indebted not to Cupid, but to his eyes - “blue, gray, brown, black.” And then he admits: “I love—there’s no fault in that—all four of these colors,” self-confidently and recklessly, as only young people who have not accumulated the turbulence and pessimism of the world around them can.

Simonov paints a picture with short, precise strokes, it’s like a retelling of Kipling’s work, his poem is not a translation, but a summary. This is no longer a prayer, like Betaki’s, it is an independent work. Where is India? Where are the Simla mountains, where are “Mabel” and “Officers”...

But they are there, they hide behind subtle features. Step back, look from a different angle - and here it is, the full picture. And in the same way, painted in gray, there will be a farewell at the pier, in the same way the hot night on the ship will be embraced by black passion, in the same way the hooves will clatter on the dusty steppe of India, in the same way the couples will spin to the blue music of the waltz... and in the same way they will fly, rush past in a kaleidoscope gray, black, blue and brown eyes, remaining forever in my memory and heart.

Chapter four or about unromantic statistics.

Let's move away from the images and try to turn to such unromantic statistics. So, Vasily Betaki in his translation of “The Litany of Lovers” adds one line more than in the original, and in total we have 42 lines. Which interesting number, isn't it?

First stanza: eyes, boards, pier, rain, tears, farewell, steamer, youth, years, faith, hope, prayer. Result: 12 nouns.

Second stanza: eyes, whisper, helm, foam, sides, shine, night, cross, ice, star, prayer.

Result: 11 nouns

Third stanza: eyes, space, steppe, side by side, horses, hearts, tone, stomp, echo, mountains, bridle, ears, prayer.

Result: 14 nouns

Fourth stanza: eyes, hills, light, summer, waltz, thick, darkness, Officers, Mabel, witchcraft, wine, silence, sincerity, confessions.

Result: 14 nouns

The fifth stanza - and a sharp decline: life, debt, Cupid, bankruptcy, guilt, prayer.

Result: 6 nouns

Total: 42 lines, 161 words in total, of which 57 are nouns.

But this is if we agree in advance that we will perceive “lovers” as an adjective. I understand that adjectives can become nouns, but since this has not yet been discussed in class, we will proceed as stated above.

The second translation - by Konstantin Simonov - has 24 lines (42 on the contrary, what a twist!) and six stanzas. If you look into it, you get the following:

First stanza: eyes, dawn, siren, rain, separation, trace, screw, foam.

Total: 8 nouns.

Second stanza: eyes, heat, sea, stars, sliding, sides, mornings, kisses, reflection.

Total: 9 nouns.

Third stanza: eyes, moon, waltz, silence, wall, farewells

Total: 6 nouns

Fourth line: eyes, sand, autumn, steppe, hunting, jump, hair, fall, flight

Total: 9 nouns

Fifth stanza: judge, judgment, debtor.

Total: 3 nouns

Sixth stanza: sides, light, guilt, color.

Total: 4 nouns.

In total we get 24 lines, 87 words in total, of which 39 are nouns.

Let’s make a simple ratio, that is, we’ll calculate the frequency and occurrence of nouns in the first and second texts.

To do this, divide the number of nouns by the number of words in total. Translated by Vasily Betaki, it turns out 57/161 = 0.35, or 35%.

Translated by Konstantin Simonov: 39/87=0.45, or 45%.

It is objectively clear that Simonov used more nouns compared to other parts of speech than Betaki.

Conclusion.

Rudyard Kipling's poem "Gray Eyes - Dawn" ("The Lovers' Prayer", "The Lovers" Litany") is a surprisingly colorful, bright, emotional work.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the translations of Betaki and Simonov, similar to each other in the overall picture, are at the same time two completely independent works. Drawing the same images in different turns (the words are mostly similar or differ slightly), the two poet-translators obtained completely different results: a detailed translation by Betaki and a brief retelling by Simonov.

The more interesting the frequency of use of nouns looks: it turns out that the more often nouns are used in the text compared to other parts of speech, the more compressed the story looks, and the skillful use of these same nouns allows you not to lose the imagery and colorfulness of the overall picture.

Kipling's poem "The Lovers" Litany" is filled with romance through and through. Past the most beautiful words, images, paintings cannot be passed through just like that. Songs were recorded based on both versions of the translation: “Prayer of Lovers” from Ivan Koval (translation by Vasily Betaki) and “Gray Eyes - Dawn” from Svetlana Nikiforova (aka Alkor) to poems by Simonov.

I couldn’t pass by either, having written a story “based on it.” Two Alcor songs were taken as the basic images - “Prince Eugen” and “Gray Eyes - Dawn”.

Let me add a story to the appendix for this work and leave it at that.

Sincerely. Helga DeIrin.

(Translation by Konstantin Simonov)

Gray eyes - dawn,
steamship siren,
Rain, separation, gray trail
Behind the propeller of running foam.

Black eyes - heat,
Slipping into the sea of ​​sleepy stars,
And on board until the morning
Kisses reflection.

Blue eyes are the moon,
Waltz white silence,
Daily wall
Inevitable farewell.

Brown eyes are sand,
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.

No, I'm not their judge
Just without nonsense judgments
I'm a debtor four times over
Blue, grey, brown, black.

Like four sides
The same light
I love - it's not my fault -
All four of these colors.

Analysis of the poem “The Four Colors of Eyes” by Kipling

The poems “The Four Colors of Eyes” by Rudyard Kipling were translated into Russian by Konstantin Simonov.

The poem belongs to the writer’s early, pre-war translations. However, it was first published only in 1971. Its English original was published in a collection in 1886. It was written before the writer met his wife Caroline, with whom they lived together all their lives. It turns out that the hero of the poem is simply an amorous romantic about twenty years old. However, the prototype of “gray eyes” is known for sure. This is Florence Gerrard, practically his fiancée - before his forced departure to India. Actually, he spent his early childhood in India, but now he was returning there through the efforts of his father, who found him a place as a journalist in a newspaper there. The relationship fizzled out, but for several more years R. Kipling could not heal his mental wound and even wrote the novel “The Light Went Out,” largely autobiographical, where the girl he loves main character, namely gray eyes. Genre: love lyrics, cross rhyme, 6 stanzas. The first quatrain is precisely dedicated to departure, farewell to the gray-eyed girl: the ship's siren, separation. Then the steamer becomes a symbol life path. He meets sultry black-eyed girls, and then - proud blue-eyed girls, and finally, the look of brown eyes strikes him like a shot from a well-aimed shooter. The work ends with an honest confession with a secret smile: I am four times indebted to eyes of all colors. He keeps every owner of beautiful eyes in his heart, some with pain, some with gratitude. However, there is no one next to him. The poet continues a number of metaphors and associations associated with color. Many enumerative gradations, sublime and unexpected comparisons (moon, sand, dawn), sound writing, few verbs, almost synesthetic images. The goal of his free adaptation was to preserve romance and, at the same time, universalize the content. He removed geographical and temporal signs. For example, the names of the waltzes, the mention of the Southern Cross, and the persistent refrain-plea, the oath of lovers, have disappeared. However, the feeling of exoticism remains. The ending also changed slightly under his pen. R. Kipling's hero remembers the machinations of Cupid and throws up his hands, admitting that he is going to continue to succumb to the charms of women's gaze, promise love until the grave - and come what may. K. Simonov's hero is a little more restrained, although he also recognizes himself as defeated.

“The Four Colors of Eyes” by R. Kipling is an ode to the charms of a woman’s eyes and a complaint about her poor broken heart.

Poems by Kipling, and I like them. I can exhaust mine too, but why bother when there are such beautiful poems.

Gray eyes - dawn,
steamship siren,
Rain, separation, gray trail
Behind the propeller of running foam.

Black eyes - heat,
Slipping into the sea of ​​sleepy stars,
And on board until the morning
Kisses reflection.

Blue eyes are the moon,
Waltz white silence,
Daily wall
Inevitable farewell.

Brown eyes are sand,
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.

No, I'm not their judge
Just without nonsense judgments
I'm a debtor four times over
Blue, grey, brown, black.

Like four sides
The same light
I love - it's not my fault -
All four of these colors.

Reviews

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Reading time: 3 minutes. Published 04/27/2018

In this article we will discuss one interesting moment from the series “Policeman from Rublyovka-3: Home Again.” Namely, we are interested in the question of what poem Grisha Izmailov read at the end of the 7th episode (23rd overall) in this comedy television series on the TNT channel.

In fact, Grisha himself said that this poem was not his, but Rudyard Kipling’s. Most likely we are interested in the words of this wonderful poem translated by Konstantin Simonov. Episode 7 is called "Eternal Midnight".

The series begins with the fact that his old friend Victoria came to work with Grisha. She suggested that Grisha come to her for his birthday, making sure to take the girl with him, and also so that he would also take a friend with him, who should also come with the girl. This seemed strange, and so it turned out in the end.

After all, the insidious Vika decided, as it turned out at the very end of the series, to conduct a quest. By the way, Grisha himself guessed that there was something fishy here and everything was arranged by Vika. A little about the quest. The lights in the house suddenly went out, and those present found themselves hostage in the house. Everyone present had to tell some secret, so to speak, to tell about their “skeleton in the closet.”

It was on this evening that the beginning of a crack in the relationship between Grisha and Alena began. Grisha Izmailov, at the end of the 23rd (7th) episode of the third season “Policeman from Rublyovka”, soulfully read the poem; it very well conveyed the character, or rather the fragile inner world of Grisha Izmailov, which was not the same as we are used to seeing Grisha. Yes, Grisha, even at that moment, after Alena’s revelations, showed himself to be tough, even rather cruel towards Alena, but this poem softened what was happening a little.

The poem is called "GRAY EYES - DAWN..." by Rudyard Kipling, here is the poem itself:

Gray eyes - dawn,
steamship siren,
Rain, separation, gray trail
Behind the propeller of running foam.

Black eyes - heat,
Slipping into the sea of ​​sleepy stars,
And on board until the morning
Kisses reflection.

Blue eyes are the moon,
Waltz white silence,
Daily wall
Inevitable farewell.

Brown eyes are sand,
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.

No, I'm not their judge
Just without nonsense judgments
I'm a debtor four times over
Blue, grey, brown, black.

Like four sides
The same light
I love - it's not my fault -
All four of these colors.

Then, when everyone left, Grisha told Vika that he had figured her out. And Vika, it turns out, wants to make a business out of such quests and give Grisha a gift. But it didn’t turn out at all as she had planned. Grisha told her that he liked her idea, that the iceberg was not to blame for the sinking of the Titanic. Then Vika asked Grisha to read the poem in full. Grisha read, and his girls flashed before his eyes, there were four of them, like the four cardinal directions in this wonderful poem.

“Gray eyes - dawn” is one of the early, pre-war, poems by Konstantin Simonov. In the ten-volume collected works published in 1979, it is in the “Free Translations” section.

The history of the creation of Rudyard Kipling's poem and its translation into Russian by Konstantin Simonov are both interesting in their own way - one of the most “free” translations of the 20th century: the translated poem is half as long as the original.

“A love like ours will never die!”

Rudyard Kipling's first collection of poems was published in England in 1886, when its author was 20 years old. And in the collection there was a poem in which the words were repeated several times, like a spell:

“Love like ours can never die!” —
“A love like ours will never die!”

The poem was called “The Lovers" Litany."

A litany is a prayer in which each sentence ends with the same phrase. A kind of prayer-spell. “Love like ours can never die!” - “A love like ours will never die!” - twenty-year-old Rudyard Kipling repeated at the end of each of the five stanzas of the prayer poem.

The original poem looks like this:

Eyes of gray - a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer wears to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.

Sing, for Faith and Hope are high —
None so true as you and I —
Sing the Lovers" Litany: —

Eyes of black - a throbbing keel,
Milky foam to left and right;
Whispered converse near the wheel
In the brilliant tropic night.

Cross that rules the Southern Sky!
Stars that sweep, and wheel, and fly,
Hear the Lovers" Litany: —
“Love like ours can never die!”

Eyes of brown - a dusty plain
Split and parched with heat of June,
Flying hoof and tightened rein,
Hearts that beat the old, old tune.

Side by side the horses fly,
Frame we now the old reply
Of the Lovers" Litany: —
“Love like ours can never die!”

Eyes of blue - the Simla Hills
Silvered with the moonlight hoar;
Pleading of the waltz that thrills,
Dies and echoes around Benmore.

"Mabel", "Officers", "Good-bye",
Glamor, wine, and witchery -
On my soul's sincerity,
“Love like ours can never die!”

Maidens, of your charity,
Pity my most luckless state.
Four times Cupid's debtor I —
Bankrupt in quadruplicate.

Yet, despite this evil case,
An a maiden showed me grace,
Four-and-forty times would I
Sing the Lovers" Litany: —
“Love like ours can never die!”

Kipling's poetic images are colorful and are associated with memories of the poet's travels to India.

The first stanza is the color gray: the gray September sky in Essex, from where the ship leaves for its long voyage, rain, a wet pier, cheeks wet with tears, words of farewell.

The second stanza is black: a tropical night in the ocean, a steamer, sea foam along the sides, a whisper in the darkness of the night, the Southern Cross sparkling in the sky and a falling star.

The third stanza is brown: dusty steppe, earth cracked from the June heat, swiftly racing horses. And two hearts that tap out the old tune of lovers: “A love like ours will never die!”

The fourth stanza is the color blue: mountains silvered with lunar frost, the sounds of a waltz that asks for you, trembles, freezes and echoes.

Four stanzas - four images: gray, black, brown, blue - and the gray, black, brown and blue eyes of the girls with whom Rudyard Kipling was in love.

Four stanzas and four loves. Unsuccessful.

In the fifth stanza of the poem, this is exactly what the poet admits: “Four times I am a debtor to Cupid - and four times I am bankrupt.”

Vasily Betaki translated the poem close to the original.

Lovers' Prayer
Gray eyes... And here -
Wet pier boards...
Is it raining? Are there tears? Farewell.
And the ship departs.
Our youth year...
Faith and Hope? Yes -
Sing the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love? That means forever!

Brown eyes - space,
Steppe, horses are racing side by side,
And hearts in an ancient tone
The stomp echoes the mountains...
And the reins are pulled,
And then it rings in my ears
Once again the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love? That means forever!

Black eyes... Shut up!
The whispers at the helm continue,
Foam flows along the sides
Into the shine of a tropical night.
The Southern Cross is clearer than ice,
The star is falling again.
Here is the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love? That means forever!

Blue eyes... Hills
Silvery in the moonlight,
And trembles in the Indian summer
A waltz that beckons into the depths of darkness.
- Officers... Mabel... When?
Witchcraft, wine, silence,
This sincerity of recognition -
Do we love? That means forever!

Yes... But life looked gloomy,
Have pity on me: after all,
All in debt to Cupid
I am four times bankrupt!
And is it my fault?
If only one again
Smiled benevolently
I would forty times then
Sang the prayer of all lovers:
Do we love? That means forever!

Free translation

The translation by Konstantin Simonov is almost half as long as the original.

There are no final stanzas with spell words and specific geographical names - Southern Cross, India, no waltzes, no officers. No specifics at all. The colors of the first four stanzas are preserved - four loves - “I am four times indebted to blue, gray, brown, black.”

And prayers - prayers, of course, no... Young people of the pre-war period in the USSR were for the most part romantics and almost always atheists.

The poem, translated by Konstantin Simonov, is called after the first line: “Gray eyes - dawn...”

* * *
Gray eyes - dawn,
steamship siren,
Rain, separation, gray trail
Behind the propeller of running foam.

Black eyes - heat,
Slipping into the sea of ​​sleepy stars,
And on board until the morning
Kisses reflection.

Blue eyes are the moon,
Waltz white silence,
Daily wall
Inevitable farewell.

Brown eyes are sand,
Autumn, wolf steppe, hunting,
Jump, all by a hair's breadth
From falling and flying.

No, I'm not their judge
Just without nonsense judgments
I'm a debtor four times over
Blue, grey, brown, black.

Like four sides
The same light
I love - it's not my fault -
All four of these colors.

The poem "Gray eyes - dawn..." is read by a cadet of the navigation department of the Murmansk Marine Fisheries College named after. I.I. Mesyatseva Tom Antipov.