"Don't part with your loved ones!": the mystical story of one of the most poignant love poems.

Sometimes the reader and the listener learn about the poet by one poem, which he accidentally or not accidentally learned. For the poet Alexander Kochetkov, the author of "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage", this is exactly the case. Although it is not the only wonderful creation. And this poem, you see, is a really beautiful poem, a rare stroke of luck.

The poet's wife, Nina Grigorievna Prozriteleva, tells about the history of the appearance of the "Ballad" in the notes left after her death and still not published: "We spent the summer of 1932 in Stavropol with my father. In the autumn, Alexander Sergeevich left earlier, I had to come to Moscow later. The ticket was already bought - the Stavropol branch to the Kavkazskaya station, there on the direct train Sochi - Moscow. It was difficult to part, and we delayed as best we could. On the eve of departure, we decided to sell the ticket and postpone the departure for at least three days. These days are a gift of fate - experience it like a holiday.

The delay was over, it was necessary to go. A ticket was bought again, and Alexander Sergeevich left. A letter from him from the Kavkazskaya station illustrates the mood in which he was traveling. (In this letter there is an expression "half sad, half asleep." In the poem - "half crying, half asleep".)

In Moscow, among friends whom he informed about the first day of his arrival, his appearance was accepted as a miracle of resurrection, since he was considered dead in a terrible crash that happened to the Sochi train at the Moscow-tovarnaya station. Friends who were returning from the Sochi sanatorium died. Alexander Sergeevich escaped death because he sold a ticket for this train and stayed in Stavropol.

In the very first letter that I received from Alexander Sergeevich from Moscow, there was a poem "Vagon" ("Ballad of a smoky carriage")..."

So we learn the date of writing - 1932 - and the dramatic history of the poem, which was published thirty-four years later. But unpublished, it in the oral version, passed from one person to another, received a huge publicity. They knew his poems in the days of the war, it seemed to many that it was written at the front. It has become one of the favorites.

For the first time, "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage" was published (with an introductory note about the poet) in the collection "Day of Poetry" (1966). Then "Ballad" was included in the anthology "Song of Love" (1967), published in "Moskovsky Komsomolets" and since then more and more willingly included in various collections and anthologies. The stanzas of the "Ballad" are taken by the authors as epigraphs: a line from the "Ballad" became the title of A. Volodin's play "Do not part with your loved ones", the readers include the "Ballad" in their repertoire. She also entered the film by Eldar Ryazanov "The Irony of Fate ..." We can say with confidence: it has become a textbook.

It's about the poem. Now a few words about the author, Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov.

In 1974, the publishing house "Soviet Writer" published his largest work - a drama in verse "Nicholas Copernicus" as a separate book. Two of his one-act poetic plays were published: "Homer's Head" - about Rembrandt (in "Change") and "Adelaide Grabbe" - about Beethoven (in "Pamir"). Cycles of lyrical poems were published in the "Day of Poetry", "Pamir", "Literary Georgia". That's all for now.

The rest (very valuable) part of the heritage (lyrics, poems, dramas in verse, translations) is still the property of the archive...

Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov is the same age as our century. After graduating from the Losinoostrovskaya gymnasium in 1917, he entered the philological faculty of Moscow State University. Soon he was mobilized into the Red Army. The years 1918-1919 are the army years of the poet. Then, at various times, he worked as a librarian in the North Caucasus, then in the MOPR (International Organization for Assistance to the Fighters of the Revolution), then as a literary consultant. And always, under all - the most difficult - circumstances of life, work on the verse continued. Kochetkov began to write early - from the age of fourteen.

His masterful translations are well known. As the author of original works, Alexander Kochetkov is little known to our readers.

Meanwhile, his play in verse about Copernicus was shown at the Moscow Planetarium Theater (there was such a very popular theater). Meanwhile, in collaboration with Konstantin Lipskerov and Sergei Shervinsky, he wrote two plays in verse, which were staged and enjoyed success. The first - "Nadezhda Durova", staged by Yu. Zavadsky long before A. Gladkov's play "A long time ago (Ryazanov's film "Hussar Ballad")" - on the same topic. The second - "Free Flemings". Both plays enrich our understanding of the poetic dramaturgy of the pre-war years.

I read in the memoirs of his publisher that "When the name of Alexander Kochetkov is mentioned, even among ardent lovers of poetry, one will say:

Oh, he translated The Magic Horn by Arnimo and Brentano?!

Allow me, it was he who gave the classic translation of Bruno Frank's story about Cervantes! - adds another.

Oh, he translated Hafiz, Anvari, Farrukhi, Unsari and other creators of the poetic East! - the third will exclaim.

And the translations of the works of Schiller, Corneille, Racine, Beranger, Georgian, Lithuanian, Estonian poets! - A fourth will notice. "

Thus, interrupting and supplementing each other, connoisseurs of poetry will remember Kochetkov the translator, who gave so much strength and talent to the high art of poetic translation.

Alexander Kochetkov until his death (1953) enthusiastically worked on poetry.

Behind the works of Kochetkov their creator appears - a man of great kindness and honesty. He had the gift of compassion for the misfortune of others. Constantly took care of old women and cats. "Such an eccentric!" others will say. But he was an artist in everything. He did not have any money, and if they did appear, they immediately migrated under the pillows of the sick, into the empty wallets of the needy.

He was helpless in regard to the arrangement of the fate of his writings. I was embarrassed to take them to the editor. And if he did, he was embarrassed to come for an answer. He was afraid of rudeness and tactlessness.

I think this poet deserves to be read and remembered, although the full fruits of his titanic labor have not yet been shown to the reading public. It is hoped that this will be done by Russian publishers (and maybe foreign ones, those who care) in the coming years.

In Russia there is one of the latest reprints of selected works of the poet.

Alexander Kochetkov. Don't part with your loved ones! Poems and poems. Moscow: Soviet Writer, 1985.

Lev Ozerov

BALLAD ABOUT THE SMOKE CAR

How painful, dear, how strange

Akin to the earth, intertwined with branches, -

How painful, dear, how strange

Split in two under the saw.

The wound on the heart will not grow,

Shed clean tears

The wound on the heart will not grow -

Spilled with fiery resin.

- As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -

Soul and blood are inseparable, -

As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -

Love and death are always together.

You will carry with you everywhere -

These poems by A. Kochetkov have been heard every New Year, for 35 years now, behind the scenes in E. Ryazanov's film "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" they are brilliantly read by Valentina Talyzina.

In general, this is "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage"
Usually she is recognized by the lines "Do not part with your loved ones."
About three years ago, I learned the history of the creation of poems that have become in Russia and abroad for these many years the anthem of all lovers, especially on New Year's Eve and Christmas holidays. I think these verses have a great mission and they have the right to be the ANTHEM OF ALL LOVERS FOR ALL TIMES.

I think this poet deserves to be read and remembered, although the full fruits of his titanic labor have not yet been shown to the reading public. It is to be hoped that this will be done by Russian publishers, and perhaps foreign ones, by those who care about real high poetry.
Just listen to how they sound!
As if all the angels of the world have gathered in one place and play the harps....

How painful, dear, how strange
Akin to the earth, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, dear, how strange
Split in two under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not grow,
Shed clean tears
The wound on the heart will not grow -
Spilled with fiery resin.

Soul and blood are inseparable, -
As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -

As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Soul and blood are inseparable, -
As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Love and death are always together.
You will carry with you everywhere -
You will carry with you, my love,
You will carry with you everywhere
Homeland, sweet home.

But if I have nothing to hide
From pity incurable,
But if I have nothing to hide
From cold and darkness?
- After parting there will be a meeting,
Don't forget me darling
After parting there will be a meeting,
We'll both be back - me and you.

But if I vanish without a trace -
Short beam of daylight, -
But if I vanish without a trace
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
- I will pray for you
So as not to forget the path of the earth,
I will pray for you
May you return unharmed.

He became homeless and humble,
Shaking in a smoky carriage
He half cried, half slept,

Suddenly bent in a terrible roll,
When the train is on a slippery slope
Tore the wheels off the rails.

inhuman strength,
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone.
The promised meeting is far away
And didn't protect anyone.
A hand that calls from afar.

Don't part with your loved ones!
Don't part with your loved ones!
Don't part with your loved ones!
Grow in them with all your blood, -

And every time forever say goodbye!
And every time forever say goodbye!
When you leave for a moment!

Sometimes the reader learns about the poet by one poem that he accidentally read. For the poet Alexander Kochetkov, the author of "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage", this is the very happy occasion. Although the ballad is not the only wonderful creation.
You see?
This is really beautiful poetry and a rare luck to be glorified for centuries from a few lines.

Only the poet's wife, Nina Grigoryevna, knows for sure about the history of the appearance of the "Ballad"
Prozritelev, in those left after her death and still unpublished
notes we read: “We spent the summer of 1932 in Stavropol with my father. In the fall, Alexander Sergeevich left earlier, I had to arrive in Moscow later. It was difficult, and we delayed as best we could. On the eve of departure, we decided to sell the ticket and postpone the departure for at least three days.

So we find out the date of writing - 1932 - and the dramatic story
poem, which was published thirty-four years later. But also
not printed, it is in the oral version, transmitted from one person to
the other received a lot of publicity. They knew his poems in the days of the war, many
seemed written on the front. These are almost the same well-known lines as Simonovsky
"Wait for me "
And also included in the list of favorites.
For the first time, "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage" was published with an introductory
a note about the poet in the collection "Day of Poetry" (1966).
Then "Ballad" was included in the anthology "Song of Love" (1967), published in "Moskovsky Komsomolets" and since then more and more willingly included in various collections and anthologies.
The stanzas of the "Ballad" are taken by the authors as epigraphs: a line from the "Ballad" became the title of A. Volodin's play "Do not part with your loved ones", the readers include the "Ballad" in their repertoire.
She also entered the film by Eldar Ryazanov "The Irony of Fate ..." We can say with confidence: it has become a textbook.
Perhaps the success of the film to a large extent was ensured precisely thanks to these poems by A. Kochetkov.
I want to re-read them again and again not only because of the touching and even mystical content, but also because of the melody of the lines that are associated with the birth of the New Year in my memory.
I wish all readers not only happiness, all the best, but also
DON'T SEPARATE WITH YOUR LOVED ONE!
Don't quarrel over trifles...

Ballad about a smoky car (A. Kochetkov)

- How painful, dear, how strange,
Akin to the earth, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, dear, how strange
Split in two under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not grow,
Shed clean tears
The wound on the heart will not grow -
Spilled with fiery resin.

- As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Soul and blood are inseparable, -
As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you
Love and death are always together.
You will carry with you everywhere -
You will carry with you, my love,
You will carry with you everywhere
Homeland, sweet home.

But if I have nothing to hide
From pity incurable,
But if I have nothing to hide
From cold and darkness?
- After parting there will be a meeting,
Don't forget me darling
After parting there will be a meeting,
We'll both be back, me and you.

- But if I vanish without a trace -
Short beam of daylight, -
But if I vanish without a trace
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
- I will pray for you
So as not to forget the path of the earth,
I will pray for you
May you return unharmed.

Shaking in a smoky carriage
He became homeless and humble,
Shaking in a smoky carriage
He half cried, half slept,

Suddenly bent in a terrible roll,
When the train is on a slippery slope
Tore the wheels off the rails.

inhuman strength,
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone.
The promised meeting is far away
And didn't protect anyone.
A hand that calls from afar.
Don't part with your loved ones!
Don't part with your loved ones!
Don't part with your loved ones!
Grow in them with all your blood, -

And every time forever say goodbye!
And every time forever say goodbye!
When you leave for a moment!

There are few people who are unfamiliar with the lines from the poem “Do not part with your loved ones!”, Especially after the release of the film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”. In fact, the poem is called differently - "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage", and its author is Alexander Kochetkov. During the creative life of most poets, lines are born that become an apotheosis, and for Alexander Kochetkov the lines from The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage became such.

This poem has an interesting history of creation, which the poet's wife Nina Grigoryevna Prozriteleva told about in her notes. The couple spent the summer of 1932 with relatives, and Alexander Kochetkov had to leave before his wife. The ticket was bought to the Kavkazskaya station, after which it was necessary to transfer to the Sochi-Moscow train. According to the memoirs of Nina Grigorievna, the couple could not part in any way, and already during the landing, when the conductor asked the mourners to leave the train, Nina Grigorievna literally rescued her husband from the car. It was decided to cancel the ticket and postpone the departure for three days. After three days, Kochetkov left and, arriving in Moscow, found that his friends already considered him dead in the crash that happened to the Sochi-Moscow train. It turned out that those three days of delay saved the poet from certain death. In the very first letter from her husband, which Nina Grigorievna received, there was a poem "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage."

Everything that happened made the poet think about the role of accidents in a person's life and about the great power of love that can save a person from the tragic ups and downs of fate. Despite the fact that the poem was written in 1932, it was published only 34 years later in the collection Day of Poetry. However, even before publication, these heartfelt lines did not leave anyone indifferent and were transmitted literally from mouth to mouth, like the very history of its creation. After the publication of the poem "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage" began to be included in numerous collections of poems as one of the best lyrical works of that time.

Alexander Kochetkov wrote many wonderful poems, but he remained in my memory thanks to his "Ballad ...". More than a dozen years have passed since the writing of the "Ballad ...", and the lines from this poem continue to be the anthem of all lovers. And in any vicissitudes of life, the most important thing is to always follow the poet’s order: “Do not part with your loved ones!”, And then even the inevitable will recede.

Any Russian person who has ever seen the film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath” knows this poem. Actually, it is called “The Ballad of a Smoky Car”, but most often it is remembered for the very line that I wrote in the title of the post.

I am not a passionate lover of poetry - none, even the most talented one. But there are poems that sink into the soul so much that it is impossible to treat them with indifference. One of them is “The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage” by Alexander Kochetkov.

Here is the history of its writing.

First, the poem itself.

BALLAD ABOUT THE SMOKE CAR

- How painful, dear, how strange,
Akin to the earth, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, dear, how strange
Split in two under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not grow,
Shed clean tears
The wound on the heart will not grow -
Spilled with fiery resin.

- As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Soul and blood are inseparable, -
As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Love and death are always together.
You will carry with you everywhere -
You will carry with you, my love,
You will carry with you everywhere
Homeland, sweet home.

- But if I vanish without a trace -
Short beam of daylight, -
But if I vanish without a trace
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
- I will pray for you
So as not to forget the path of the earth,
I will pray for you
May you return unharmed.

Shaking in a smoky carriage
He became homeless and humble,
Shaking in a smoky carriage
He half cried, half slept,

Suddenly bent in a terrible roll,
When the train is on a slippery slope
Tore the wheels off the rails.
inhuman strength,
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone.
The promised meeting is far away
And didn't protect anyone.
A hand that calls from afar.

It was a complete surprise for me to find out when the poem was written - in what a terrible period of Russian history. And here is an excerpt from the article Lev Ozerov about the history of ballad writing.

————————————————————————————–

The poet's wife Nina Grigorievna Prozriteleva tells about the history of the appearance of the "Ballad" in the notes left after her death and still not published:

“We spent the summer of 1932 in Stavropol with my father. In autumn, Alexander Sergeevich left earlier, I was supposed to arrive in Moscow later. The ticket had already been bought - the Stavropol branch to the Kavkazskaya station, where there was a direct train from Sochi to Moscow. It was difficult to part, and we delayed as best we could. On the eve of departure, we decided to sell the ticket and postpone the departure for at least three days. These days - a gift of fate - to experience as a continuous holiday.
The delay was over, it was necessary to go. A ticket was bought again, and Alexander Sergeevich left. A letter from him from the Kavkazskaya station illustrates the mood in which he was traveling. (In this letter there is an expression “half sad, half asleep.” In the poem, “half crying, half asleep.”)

In the very first letter that I received from Alexander Sergeevich from Moscow, there was a poem “Vagon” (“The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage”)…”

Saved by fate from the train wreck that happened the day before, the poet could not help but think about the nature of chance in human life, about the meaning of meeting and parting, about the fate of two creatures that love each other.
So we learn the date of writing - 1932 - and the dramatic history of the poem, which was published thirty-four years later. But even unpublished, it in the oral version, transmitted from one person to another, received great publicity. I heard it during the war, and to me (and to many of my friends) it seemed to be written at the front. This poem became my property - I did not part with it. It has become one of the favorites.

The first who told me the history of the existence of the "Ballad of a Smoky Carriage" was a friend of A. S. Kochetkov, the now deceased writer Viktor Stanislavovich Vitkovich. In the winter of 1942, a participant in the defense of Sevastopol, writer Leonid Solovyov, the author of an excellent book about Khoja Nasreddin, “Troublemaker,” came to Tashkent. At that time, in Tashkent, Yakov Protazanov was filming the film “Nasreddin in Bukhara” - according to the script by Solovyov and Vitkovich. Vitkovich brought Solovyov to Kochetkov, who was then living in Tashkent. It was then that Solovyov heard from the lips of the author "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage". She liked him very much. Moreover, he fanatically fell in love with this poem and took the text with him. It looked like it had just been written. This is how everyone around him perceived him (and Solovyov, at that time a correspondent for the Red Fleet, read the poem to everyone he met). And it not only captivated the listeners, it became a necessity for them. It was copied and sent in letters as a message, a consolation, a prayer. In the lists, in various versions (even mutilated), it often went along the fronts without the name of the author, as a folk one.

For the first time, “The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage” was published by me (with an introductory note about the poet) in the collection “Day of Poetry” (1966). Then "Ballad" was included in the anthology "Song of Love" (1967), published in "Moskovsky Komsomolets" and since then more and more willingly included in various collections and anthologies. The stanzas of the "Ballad" are taken by the authors as epigraphs: a line from the "Ballad" became the title of A. Volodin's play "Do not part with your loved ones", the readers include the "Ballad" in their repertoire. She also entered Eldar Ryazanov's film "The Irony of Fate ..." We can say with confidence: it has become a textbook.

This is about the poem.

Now about the author, about Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov. In 1974, the publishing house "Soviet Writer" published his largest work - a drama in verse "Nicholas Copernicus" as a separate book. Two of his one-act poetic plays were published: "Homer's Head" - about Rembrandt (in "Change") and "Adelaide Grabbe" - about Beethoven (in "Pamir"). The cycles of lyrical poems were published in the “Day of Poetry”, “Pamir”, “Literary Georgia”. That's all for now. The rest (very valuable) part of the heritage (lyrics, poems, dramas in verse, translations) is still the property of the archive...

Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov is the same age as our century.

After graduating from the Losinoostrovskaya gymnasium in 1917, he entered the philological faculty of Moscow State University. Soon he was mobilized into the Red Army. The years 1918-1919 are the army years of the poet. Then, at various times, he worked as a librarian in the North Caucasus, then in the MOPR (International Organization for Assistance to the Fighters of the Revolution), then as a literary consultant. And always, under all - the most difficult - circumstances of life, work on the verse continued. Kochetkov began to write early - from the age of fourteen.

His masterful translations are well known. As the author of original works, Alexander Kochetkov is little known to our readers. Meanwhile, his play in verse about Copernicus was shown at the Moscow Planetarium Theater (there was such a very popular theater). Meanwhile, in collaboration with Konstantin Lipskerov and Sergei Shervinsky, he wrote two plays in verse, which were staged and enjoyed success. The first - "Nadezhda Durova", staged by Y. Zavadsky long before A. Gladkov's play "A long time ago" - on the same topic. The second is “Free Flemings”. Both plays enrich our understanding of the poetic dramaturgy of the pre-war years. At the mention of the name of Alexander Kochetkov, even among ardent lovers of poetry, one will say:

“Ah, he translated The Magic Horn by Arnimo and Brentano, didn’t he?!

- Excuse me, it was he who gave the classic translation of Bruno Frank's story about Cervantes! - adds another.

“Oh, he translated Hafiz, Anvari, Farrukhi, Unsari and other creators of the poetic East!” a third will exclaim.

- And the translations of the works of Schiller, Corneille, Racine, Beranger, Georgian, Lithuanian, Estonian poets! - A fourth will notice.

- Do not forget Antal Gidash and Es-khabib Vaf, a whole book of his poems, and participation in the translations of large epic canvases - “David of Sasun”, “Alpamysh”, “Kalevipoeg”! - will not fail to mention the fifth.

Thus, interrupting and supplementing each other, connoisseurs of poetry will remember Kochetkov the translator, who gave so much strength and talent to the high art of poetic translation.

Alexander Kochetkov until his death (1953) enthusiastically worked on poetry. He seemed to me one of the last students of some old school of painting, the keeper of its secrets, ready to pass these secrets on to others. But few people were interested in these secrets, as in the art of inlay, making lionfish, cylinders and phaetons. Stargazer, he adored Copernicus. A music lover, he recreated the image of a deafened Beethoven. A painter in a word, he turned to the experience of the great beggar Rembrandt.

Behind the works of Kochetkov, their creator appears - a man of great kindness and honesty. He had the gift of compassion for the misfortune of others. Constantly took care of old women and cats. “Such an eccentric!” others will say. But he was an artist in everything. He did not have any money, and if they did appear, they immediately migrated under the pillows of the sick, into the empty wallets of the needy.

Until now, we are indebted to the memory of Alexander Kochetkov. It has not yet been fully shown to the reading public. It is to be hoped that this will be done in the coming years.

I want to sketch his appearance in the most cursory way. He had long, combed back hair. He was light in his movements, these movements themselves betrayed the character of a person whose actions were guided by internal plasticity. He had a gait that you rarely see now: melodious, helpful, something very ancient was felt in it. He had a cane, and he carried it gallantly, in a secular way, the last century was felt, and the cane itself seemed to be ancient, from the time of Griboyedov.

A successor to the classical traditions of Russian verse, Alexander Kochetkov seemed to some poets and critics of the thirties and forties a kind of archaist. What was solid and solid was mistaken for backward and hardened. But he was neither a copyist nor a restorer. He worked in the shadows and at depth. Congenial people appreciated him. This applies, first of all, to Sergei Shervinsky, Pavel Antokolsky, Arseny Tarkovsky, Vladimir Derzhavin, Viktor Vitkovich, Lev Gornung, Nina Zbrueva, Ksenia Nekrasova and some others. He was noticed and noted by Vyacheslav Ivanov. Moreover: it was the friendship of two Russian poets - the older generation and the younger generation. Anna Akhmatova treated Kochetkov with interest and friendly attention.

For the first time I saw and heard Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov in the Khoromny dead end in the apartment of Vera Zvyagintseva. I remember that Klara Arseneva, Maria Petrovykh, Vladimir Lyubin were with us then. We heard verses which were read softly and sincerely by an author whom I liked very much. That evening he heard many kind words addressed to him, but he looked as if all this was being said not about him, but about some other poet who deserved praise to a greater extent than himself.

He was welcoming and friendly. No matter how sad or tired he was, his interlocutor did not feel it.

The interlocutor saw in front of him, next to him, a sweet, sincere, sensitive person.

Even in a state of illness, lack of sleep, need, even at the time of legitimate resentment at the inattention of editors and publishing houses, Alexander Sergeevich did everything to ensure that this state was not transmitted to his interlocutor or companion, so that it was easy for him. It was with such lightness coming from the soul that he once turned to me and, softly tapping his cane on the asphalt, said:

- I have one composition, imagine - a drama in verse. Wouldn't it be difficult for you to get acquainted - even briefly - with this work? Don't be in a hurry when you say and if you can...

So, in the year 1950, I got the dramatic poem “Nicholas Copernicus”.

Starting with the history of one poem (“The Ballad of the Smoky Carriage”), I turned to its author and his story.

From one poem, a thread stretches to other works, to the personality of the poet, who fell in love with him so much and became his close friend and companion.

This book of selected works of the poet represents different genres of his work: lyrics, dramatic short stories (as A. S. Kochetkov himself called them), poems.

In working on the book, I used the advice and archives of the poet's friends, V. S. Vitkovich and L. V. Gornung, who, among other things, gave me a photograph of Alexander Kochetkov, taken by him, placed in this book. I give them my thanks.

Lines from the poem "Do not part with your loved ones!" after the release of the New Year's comedy "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath" became familiar to almost everyone. This poem is called "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage", its author is Alexander Kochetkov, and the history of the appearance of the poem deserves special attention.

The story of the appearance of the poem was told in her diary by the wife of the poet Nina Grigoryevna Prozriteleva.

The couple spent the summer of 1932 with relatives, and Alexander Kochetkov had to leave before his wife. The ticket was bought to the Kavkazskaya station, after which it was necessary to transfer to the Sochi-Moscow train. According to the memoirs of Nina Grigorievna, the couple could not part in any way, and already during the landing, when the conductor asked the mourners to leave the train, Nina Grigorievna literally rescued her husband from the car. It was decided to cancel the ticket and postpone the departure for three days. After three days, Kochetkov left and, arriving in Moscow, found that his friends already considered him dead in the crash that happened to the Sochi-Moscow train. It turned out that those three days of delay saved the poet from certain death. In the very first letter from her husband, which Nina Grigorievna received, there was a poem "The Ballad of a Smoky Carriage."

Ballad of a smoky carriage

Grow in them with all your blood, -

And every time forever say goodbye!
And every time forever say goodbye!
When you leave for a moment!

Alexander Kochetkov, 1932.

Poetry lovers might be interested to hear how

Portal for the student. Self-training

Ballad of a smoky carriage

RELATED ARTICLES