Poem: Wait for Me — Konstantin Simonov
Wait for Me
— Konstantin Simonov
Translated by Lubov Yakovleva
Wait for me, and I’ll come back,
But wait with all your might,
Wait when dreariness descends,
With the yellow rains,
Wait when snowdrifts sweep the ground,
Wait during the heat,
Wait when others are given up
And together with the past forgotten.
Wait when from distant places
Letters do not arrive,
Wait when all who’ve waited together
Are already tired of it.
Wait for me, and I’ll come back,
Don’t give your approval
To those who say you should forget,
Insisting they are right.
Even though my son and mother
Believe I’m already gone,
Though my friends get tired of waiting,
Settle by the fire and drink
A bitter cup,
So my soul should rest in peace . . .
Wait. Do not make haste to join them
In their toast to me.
Wait for me, and I’ll come back,
Just to spite all deaths.
Let the ones who did not wait
Say: “It was his luck.”
It’s hard for them to understand,
For those who did not wait,
That in the very heat of fire,
By waiting here for me,
It was you that saved me.
Only you and I will know
How I survived—
It’s just that you knew how to wait
As no other person.
