1. Jevgeny Aleksandrovich Jevtushenko (born 1933)
to S. Preobrazhenskiy
Ljudei neinteresnykh v mire net
[“Only interesting people exist”]
[free translation]

2. 1.
Only interesting people exist.
Their fates are like the histories of planets.
Each have their individualities,
And not one, resembling another.

3. And if some-one lived unnoticed, and you got to know this humbleness, 2.
And if some-one lived unnoticed,
and you got to know this humbleness,
He was interesting to people,
even in his humbleness.

4. 3.
Everyone has her secret private world.
In this world is there a best moment?
In this world is there a most horrible hour?
But all this remains to us unknown.

5. with him dies his first snow, and his first kiss and his first pain… 4.
And if dies a man,
with him dies his first snow,
and his first kiss and his first pain…
All this takes he with himself.
И если умирает человек,
с ним умирает первый его снег,
и первый поцелуй, и первый бой...
Все это забирает он с собой.

6. 5.
Yes, books and bridges will remain,
mashines and artists’ canvases.
Yes, many succeeded in achieving something,
but alas! Something shall exit, nevertheless.

7. Such is the law of a mercyless game. Not people, but worlds shall die. 6. 6.
Such is the law of a mercyless game.
Not people, but worlds shall die.
People we do remember, sinful and earthly.
But really, what did we know about them?

8. What do we know of brothers, of friends, 7.
What do we know of brothers, of friends,
what do we know of their uniqueness?
and about ones own father
we, knowing everything, know nothing.

9. People exit ... they will not return. 8.
People exit ... they will not return.
Their hidden worlds are not reborn again.
And every time I want again
to cry in front of this irreversibility.