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I must admit. I kind of like when you write in Russian. It gives me the opportunity to go out and read what you wrote.

This is what I got:

And how they brought her to the square, tied up,

They saw how pale her face was,

And her eyes are wild beyond words,

And they called her the Virgin Mary...

And if I were in a monastery and a nun,

And I would become Christ’s bride,

Or passed away as baby Dashenka, -

Yes, she became a monster at the execution site.

Apparently, God was arguing with the Evil One,

If you turn this way, what will happen to her?

And he said: this time you should be right,

She is damned, a murderer.

Oh, a lot of blood has been drunk and shed,

The sea is red, the sea is formidable

And she looks, locked with a key,

Like a cave, filled with stones.

And a strange smile wanders on the lips,

This makes all hearts shudder

Let it crawl like a damned snake,

Is eternity enough to repent?

Is eternity enough, and is it necessary?

Is there a sacred word for her?

You can’t bring anyone back, you can’t pray for them...

A terrible pool of eyes, pale cheeks.

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author

first of all thank you-it's hard to believe your generosity and patience

yeah, that's one of the translations Google gives-the worst I must say (they differ too, for example I got 3 versions-the Word one, the one in email, and the one when one opens it in Substack format. Substack format at least gets pronouns right, and in general is the closest.)

At least though in English one gets a general sense of.

Couple times where I checked "to French", if longer than a stanza? nothing in common. Really mind-boggling. Why?

So it can be upsetting, I check -and I know that people won't be able to read it properly, also this one is stylized, older, more folkloric language, as I was influenced by the series-the translator doesn't fully grasp it, and makes some mess, thus.

It's not a big deal, as I'm not a great poet, it's not like mankind gonna suffer by not reading that-

Thank you so much, Lique 🌹I'll try to maybe find the version that at least got pronouns right.

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It keeps my mind busy.

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author

And when they brought her out to the square, tied up,

They saw how pale her face was,

And her eyes are incredibly wild,

And they thought her the god-fearing pilgrim...

If only she’d be in a monastery and a nun,

If only she would have become the bride of Christ,

Or she died as a baby Dashenka, -

Yeт, she became a monster at the place of execution.

Apparently, God was arguing with the Evil One,

If we turn things around like this, what will happen to her?

And he said: This time thou will be right,

She is to be a damned murderer.

Oh, what blood has been drunk and spilled,

The sea is red, the sea is menacing

And she looks – as if locked with a key,

Like a cave, sealed with stone.

And a strange smile wanders on her lips,

That makes all hearts tremble

Let her crawl like a snake, the damned one,

Is eternity enough to repent?

Is eternity enough, and is it even necessary?

Is there a sacred word for her?

There is no way to bring anyone back, no way to pray for forgiveness...

A terrible pool of eyes, pale cheeks.

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author

(gosh, how this website glitches. I'm sorry. Posting/it's double/I delete/then all disappears/I repost/rinse-repeat)

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I think they may be doing some upgrades while we are still using the site. This has happened to a lot of people. Including me.

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Yeah. I went to Google translate. Babble is now charging. Things have changed.

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Фиг-гасе…..

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author

💫

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Jul 3Liked by Chen Rafaeli

I vote yes for the dubious bonus. Keep that in mind for future posts, please :)

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author

)) I will then

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Jul 22Liked by Chen Rafaeli

Yes, please, dubious bonuses aplenty for me too! I had to subscribe, because your Russian poem is amazing, and who knows what other gems you have in store for us, Chen?

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author
Jul 22·edited Jul 22Author

Thank you-I don't even know what to say(which happens to me a lot)-thank you so much

Funny thing-I don't remember what dubious bonus I had in mind...

(Un) fortunately, so many of these are dubious, sooner or larer I'll keep the promise))

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