“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 Blue colour: 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.
South Cross 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 no 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.
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 something was 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 inner fragile 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.
Grisha Izmailov reads the poem "Gray eyes - dawn..."
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,
In the sea sleepy stars sliding,
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.
Rudyard Kipling
Lovers' Prayer
Grey eyes. – Sunrise,
Wet pier boards.
Is it raining? Are there tears? Farewell.
And the ship departs...
Our loyalty of the year...
Faith and hope? Yes:
Sing the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? That means forever!”
Black eyes. - Shut up!
The whispering at the helm continues.
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 you? That means forever!”
Brown eyes. - Space.
Steppe. Horses race side by side.
And hearts in an ancient tone
The stomp echoes the mountains.
And the reins are tight...
And then it rings in my ears
Once again the prayer of all lovers:
“Do we love you? That means forever!”
Blue eyes. – Hills
Silvery in the moonlight,
And trembles in the Indian summer
A waltz beckoning into the depths of darkness...
- Officers... Mabel... when?..
Witchcraft. Wine. Silence...
This sincerity of recognition:
“Do we love you? 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 you? That means forever!”
(Translated by V. Betaki)
Rudyard Kipling
(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 no fault -
All four of these colors.
The Lovers' Litany
Eyes of gray – a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer puts 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: -
“Love like ours never die!”
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 turn, and fly
Hear the Lovers’ Litany: -
“Love like ours never die!”
Eyes of brown – a dusty plain
Split and parched with heat of June.
Flying hoof and tightened rein,
Hearts that beat the ancient tune.
Side by side the horses fly,
Frame we now the old reply
Of the Lovers’ Litany: -
“Love like ours never die!”
Eyes of blue – the Simla Hills
Silvered with 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 never die!”
Maidens, of your charity,
Pity my most luckless state,
Four times Cupid’s debtor I –
Bankrupt in quadruplicate.
Yet, despite my evil case,
An a maiden showed me grace,
Four-and-forty times would I
Sing the Lovers’ Litany: -
“Love like ours never die!”
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 no fault -
All four of these colors.
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(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 faded away, but for several more years R. Kipling could not heal mental wound and even wrote the novel “The Light Went Out,” largely autobiographical, where the girl he loves main character, namely gray eyes. By 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 steamship 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. Let's say the names of waltzes have disappeared, the mention Southern Cross, and the persistent refrain-plea, the vow of lovers. 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.
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