This was not an affair, You were there to discover: Like a beautiful volume With a rough dusty cover. And in love like a scholar, With a secret excitement I was reading our story With a frivolous title. There was crying and warnings, All the same, not a secret. The dull prose was prevailing, And the poems were less frequent. Your attempts of succeeding, And your desperate cuddles, It’s all scary like reading Childhood period dramas. I was hoping, excited, That you weren’t read by many. But just like a new item, You were borrowed aplenty. I know all whatsoever, You don’t have to believe me: Forty nine altogether Chose to share their small secret. Wish I could read the wedding, And I pray: "God Almighty!" Let’s now flip to the ending And be done with this writing! I can’t wait for the moment When I’ll go down the aisle To return this old novel With a frivolous title.
© Kirill Tolmachev. Translation, 2022