Her Secret Fire

English translation of Nikolai Gumilev's poem ‘Она’

I know a woman - silent, distant,
Worn out by every squandered word;
Her widened pupils glow, persistent,
With secret lights that go unheard.

Her soul unlocks its hidden pages
For verses cast in bronze alone;
To life’s delights and simple wages
She answers coldly, like a stone.

Her steps - unhurried, almost dreaming -
So strangely soft, serene, and slow;
Not fair, perhaps - at least in seeming,
Yet she is all the joy I know.

When pride and reckless thirst enslave me,
It’s she who teaches sweeter pain,
Where fevered dreams and languors pave me
A path through darkness and through flame.

In hours of longing, pale and glowing,
She holds the lightning in her hand;
Her lucid dreams, like shadows flowing,
On burning Eden’s golden sand.

------
Here's a link to the song:

https://disk.yandex.ru/d/j9az--KCqkch5g


     *    *    *
This song in Russian via the link:

http://stihi.ru/2025/06/28/570