When Your Face Dawned...

                         Yevgeny Yevtushenko

When your face dawned

over my crumpled life

at first I understood

only the poverty of what I have.

Then its particular light

was shed on woods, rivers and seas

and initiated into the world of colours

the uninitiated me.

I am so frightened, I am so frightened

of the end of the unexpected sunrise,

of the end of revelations, tears, excitement,

but I do not fight with this fear.

I understand - this fear

is what love is. I cherish it,

though I know not how to cherish,

a careless guard of his own love.

This fear has encircled me.

These moments - I know - are brief,

and for me these colours will vanish

when your face sets.