What do you weep about, my guitar?
Who left his soul behind inside you?
Who’s heart is weeping in unison?
Perhaps, you weep for me…

He found me not and all my days
I spent without him and waited
When flowers bloomed on trees,
When rain did wash my tears away.

When yellow leaves were dying,
When snowflakes my solitude embraced.
Don’t crucify me, torture, lie to me, guitar,
That I was sought and missed

When during sleepless nights in misery’s embrace
I listened to the sweet talk of the stars
That ceased to be a dream and their twinkle
Would beckon me into another world
Where torment I’d forget.

Don’t weep, guitar, I understand
That cup of misery I must drink up
As fate has ruled. The days of life will fade
And I will leave this world
That happiness denied to my tormented soul.

Who would surmise that solitude like noose
Was strangling my heart?
That heart of mine that loved
For good unloved remained?

But I will gain my peace
I knew not under Sun
When I will cross the line
And fade away.

Don’t hurt that soul of mine, guitar,
The taste of love it has forgotten.
Don’t strain your strings
To lift it up to Heaven.

And don’t remind me that the Love
Remained a stranger to my tortured heart,
Remained a dream that never would come true ,
Afraid of fierce passion that was burning
Inside my lonely soul.

Don’t weep, guitar, let me forget
That for this soul which yearned for Love
Yet Love knew not, the life has gone.

Weep, my guitar, cry tears but don’t let
The Love forget that all my life
For Love I always longed,
That this was once the world
That I dwelt in!


Liana Margiva

Translated from Russian by Anatol Kardiukov