Without thought, without reason

Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg

Without thought, without reason,

I was married off,

and the golden years of my girlhood

cut short by force.

And for what had I preserved my youth,

observing life apart,

from the window, keeping away from the sun

and nurturing my beauty -

just so that in the years of marriage

I might weep and grieve

without love, without joy -

to lament and suffer?

My parents say:

"You'll get used to it - even like it;

if you had followed your heart

you may have found even more sorrow."

It's fine for them, having already grown old,

to reason and give advice,

yet I am young;

they should not equate our situations.