The Russian Song by Evgeniy Gribinka

I remember, when I was still a young lass,

Our army was marching off somewhere.

It was early evening, I stay by the gate grass,

As the cavalry filed down the street. there

Then a young nobleman rode slowly up to me

And said: "Give me a drink of water, beauty!"

He drank his fill, shook my white hand firmly,

Leaned down quickly  and kissed briefly me...

I gazed after him for a very  long time. then,

He turned back, and the world seemed all in beam…

I could not sleep in wink all night long as afraid hen:

That handsome nobleman haunted then my dreams…

And much later, when I was already a hoary  widow,

And had married off five   superb daughters,in a row,

A general with epaulet came to lodge in our home—

Wounded all over, moaning so pitifully no handsome.

I looked closer, and my heart begun a start:

It was the very same young nobleman so smart.

The same dashing spirit, the same sparkle in his eyes,

Only his mustache and temple were streaked with gray.

And once again swear  I felt like a young virgin girl,

And once again I did not sleep all night as owl.

I could not sleep a wink all night long; at beam

That handsome nobleman haunted all my dreams…