Chernoglazaya Kazachka
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
The Dark-Eyed Cossack Girl
The dark-eyed Cossack girl
Shoed my horse for me.
Asked for silver in return,
Not valuing the labor fee.
What’s your name, young lady?
The young lady replies:
You’ll hear my name
From the pounding of hooves.
I rode down the street,
Galloped down the road.
On the path between the browns,
Between the grays, between the stones.
Masha, Zina, Dasha, Nina?
None of them seem to be her.
Katya, Katya, they’re making
Horseshoes for my steed.
Since that day, whether I walk,
Or gallop like a beast,
Katya, Katya, Katerina,
I whisper without cease.
What a fool I’ve been,
I’ve got another one, you see!
But Katya, like a song,
Is a mystery to me.
The dark-eyed Cossack girl
Shoed my horse for me.
Asked for silver in return,
Not valuing the labor fee.
What’s your name, young lady?
The young lady replies:
You’ll hear my name
From the pounding of hooves.
