Episode Details

Sergei Esenin — Fifteen Poems (1914–1915)

Fifteen lyrics by Sergei Esenin from 1914–1915 — the village poet at full song: a dashing fellow rides singing to war with his sweetheart's silver rings, evening pours like soot through the window while a mother lulls her tiny girl, spring wanders in like a pilgrim in birch-bark shoes, the leshy halloos at an owl while a mother bear dreams, Kupala fires burn beyond the river, and flails ring on the threshing floor. Then the road turns homeward and sadder: a cloud ties its lace in the grove, bagels hang on the wattle fences at the fair, convicts walk the sandy road to Siberia, an old cow dreams of her lost calf and a white grove, a herd of horses listens to the herdsman's horn at dusk, scarlet gloom traces its fiery border at vespers, the valley catches phantoms in moonlit lace, a wounded vixen curls by her earth, and a mother dog follows her seven puppies through the snow — and sees one of them in the moon.

The fifteen poems, in order: The Dashing Fellow (Удалец); Evening, Like Soot… (Вечер, как сажа); The Moon Hides Behind the Rick-Yards… (Прячет месяц за овинами); In the Forest the Leshy Shouts at an Owl… (По лесу леший кричит на сову); Fires Burn Beyond the River… (За рекой горят огни); The Threshing (Молотьба); A Cloud Tied Lace in the Grove… (Туча кружево в роще связала); Bagels Hang on the Wattle Fences… (На плетнях висят баранки); In That Land Where Yellow Nettles… (В том краю, где жёлтая крапива); The Cow (Корова); The Herd of Horses (Табун); Scarlet Gloom in the Heavenly Blackness… (Алый мрак в небесной черни); In Moonlit Lace, Stealthily… (В лунном кружеве украдкой); The Vixen (Лисица); The Song of the Dog (Песнь о собаке). By Sergei Esenin, in new English verse translations made for this show, read aloud over a gentle instrumental bed.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.