How Young We Have Been

[Ilya Shambat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU1jUiXOJpo

Look around, unfamiliar passerby,
Familiar is my incorruptible sight.
Maybe, I am younger,
We won't ourselves always recognize.

Nothing on the earth passes without a trace,
And immortal was our passed away youth.

How young we had been, how young we had been,
How sincerely we loved, how we in ourselves believed.

Without ridicule had met us
All flowers on the roads of the Earth.
To our friends we forgave errors,
We could not forgive betrayal.

Nothing on the earth passes without a trace,
And immortal was our passed away youth.

How young we had been, how young we had been,
How sincerely we loved, how we in ourselves believed.

The first half we played
And just this we could understand,
That not to be lost on the earth,
You must not lose yourself.

Nothing on the earth passes without a trace,
And immortal was our passed away youth.

The lightning has burned out in the sky,
And thunder in the heart has gone quiet.
Not to forget the beloved faces,
Not to forget our dear eyes.

Nothing on the earth passes without a trace,
And immortal was our passed away youth.
How young we had been, how young we had been,
How sincerely we loved, how we in ourselves believed.

By Dmitry Horostovsky
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat