Those Who Burn Can t Burn Again-S. Yesenin

English translation of Sergey Yesenin's poem (1925)

You don’t love me, darling - I can see it.
Still you melt and tremble in my arms.
You don’t care, you barely even feel it -
Yet you crave the fire and the charm.

Tell me now: how many hearts have wandered
Through your hands, then vanished in the night?
All those vows and pretty lies you squandered -
Shadows fading out of sight.

I’m not blind - they passed you like a rumor,
Never reaching anything alive.
Kneeling for a moment of your humor -
Gone, before they could survive.

Half-closed eyes, you dream of someone distant,
Warm with ghosts you never truly kissed…

But I don’t love you either - not with fever.
Just a spark, not fate, not destiny.
When the wind grows colder, I’ll grow leaner -
Walk away, and you walk free.
Those who burned can’t burn again -
Not you. Not me.

One day on a quiet, rainy corner,
You and I may brush our worlds once more.
You will nod, politely and with boredom -
Just a shadow from before.

Bridge (emotional lift)I was never yours -
and you were never mine…
But God, for a moment,
we burned like a warning sign.
All the wrong embraces,
all the roads that never stayed -
Tell me, was it love,
or just a debt we never paid?

No - I don’t love you either,
and I won’t pretend again.
Let the echoes vanish,
let the night forget our names.
Those who burned can’t burn once more -
Not you, not me - not anymore.
Ashes… and nothing more.

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Here's a link to the song:

https://disk.yandex.ru/d/pUl3ed4xXluEzA

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This song in Russian via the link:

http://stihi.ru/2025/10/26/6740