Sometimes the reader and listener learn about a poet from one poem, which he learned by chance or not by chance. For the poet Alexander Kochetkov, author of “The Ballad of a Smoky Car,” this is the same case. Although it is not the only wonderful creation. And this poem, you see, is truly a beautiful poem, a rare success.

The history of the appearance of “Ballad” is told by the poet’s wife Nina Grigorievna Prozriteleva in the notes left after her death and still unpublished: “We spent the summer of 1932 in Stavropol with my father. In the fall, Alexander Sergeevich left earlier, I was supposed to come to Moscow later. The ticket had already been purchased - the Stavropol line to the Kavkazskaya station, there on the direct train Sochi - Moscow. It was difficult to leave, and we delayed as much as we could. On the eve of departure, we decided to sell the ticket and delay the departure for at least three days. These same days are a gift of fate - experience it as a complete holiday.

The reprieve was over, it was necessary to go. A ticket was bought again, and Alexander Sergeevich left. A letter from him from 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 occurred with a Sochi train at the Moskva-tovarnaya station. Acquaintances who were returning from a 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 “Wagon” (“The Ballad of a Smoky Wagon”)...”

Protected by fate from the train crash 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 separation, about the fate of two beings who love each other.

This is how we find out the date of writing - 1932 - and the dramatic history of the poem, which was published thirty-four years later. But unprinted, it was in an oral version, passed from one person to another, and received enormous publicity. They knew his poems during the war; to many it seemed written at the front. It became one of my favorites.

“The Ballad of a Smoky Car” was first published (with an introductory note about the poet) in the collection “Poetry Day” (1966). Then “Ballad” was included in the anthology “Song of Love” (1967), published in “Moskovsky Komsomolets” and since then has been increasingly 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 "Don't Part With Your Loved Ones", readers include the "Ballad" in their repertoire. It was also included in Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Irony of Fate...” We can say with confidence: it has become a textbook.

This is about the poem. Now a few words about the author, Alexander Sergeevich Kochetkov.

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

The rest (very valuable) part of the heritage (lyrics, poems, dramas in verse, translations) still remains 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 poet’s army years. Then in different time He worked either as a librarian in the North Caucasus, or at the International Organization for Assistance to Fighters of the Revolution, or as a literary consultant. And always, in all the most difficult circumstances of life, work on the poem continued. Kochetkov began writing early - at 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 performed in the theater of the Moscow Planetarium (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 is “Nadezhda Durova,” staged by Yu. Zavadsky long before A. Gladkov’s play “A Long Time Ago (Ryazanov’s Film “The Hussar Ballad”)” - on the same topic. The second is "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 poetry lovers one will say:

Oh, he translated" Magic horn"Arnimo and Brentano?!

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

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

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

Thus, interrupting and complementing each other, poetry connoisseurs will remember Kochetkov the translator, who gave so much effort and talent high art poetic translation.

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

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

He was helpless regarding the fate of his works. I was embarrassed to take them to the editor. And if he did, he was embarrassed to come for an answer. I 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. We must hope 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 be separated from your loved ones! Poems and poems. Moscow: Soviet writer, 1985.

Lev Ozerov

How painful, honey, how strange,

Connected in the ground, intertwined with branches, -

How painful, honey, how strange

Split under the saw.

The wound on the heart will not heal,

Will shed pure tears,

The wound on the heart will not heal -

It will spill with fiery resin.

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

Soul and blood are indivisible, -

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

Love and death are always together.

You will carry it with you everywhere -

There are few people who are unfamiliar with the lines from the poem “Don’t part with your loved ones!”, especially after the movie came out "Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath". In fact, the poem is called differently - , and its author is . During creative life For most poets, lines are born that become apotheosis, and for Alexander Kochetkov the lines from “The Ballad of a Smoky Car” became such lines.

This poem has interesting story creation, which the poet’s wife, Nina Grigorievna Prozriteleva, spoke about in her notes. The couple spent the summer of 1932 with relatives, and Alexander Kochetkov had to leave before his wife. A ticket was purchased to Kavkazskaya station, after which it was necessary to transfer to the Sochi-Moscow train.

According to Nina Grigorievna’s recollections, the couple could not separate and, already during boarding, when the conductor asked the mourners to leave the train, Nina Grigorievna literally rescued her husband from the carriage. It was decided to return the ticket and postpone departure for three days.

After three days, Kochetkov left and, arriving in Moscow, discovered that his friends already considered him dead in the crash that occurred with the Sochi-Moscow train. It turned out that those three days of delay saved the poet from inevitable death. In the very first letter from her husband that Nina Grigorievna received, there was a poem "The Ballad of a Smoky Car".

Everything that happened made the poet think about the role of accidents in human life and about great power love that can protect a person from the tragic vicissitudes of fate. Despite the fact that the poem was written in 1932, it was only published after 34 years in the collection “Poetry Day”.

However, even before publication, these heartfelt lines left no one indifferent and were literally passed on by word of mouth, like the very story of its creation. After its publication, the poem “The Ballad of a Smoky Car” 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 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 remain the anthem of all lovers. And in any life’s ups and downs, the most important thing is to always follow the poet’s order: “Don’t part with your loved ones!”, and then even the inevitable will recede.

Ballad about a smoky carriage (A. Kochetkov)

How painful, honey, how strange,
Connected in the ground, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, honey, how strange
Split under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not heal,
Will shed pure tears,
The wound on the heart will not heal -
It will spill with fiery resin.

As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Soul and blood are indivisible, -
As long as I'm alive, I'll be with you -
Love and death are always together.

You will carry it with you everywhere -
You will carry with you, my love, -
You will carry it with you everywhere
Native land, sweet home.

But if I have nothing to hide with
From incurable pity,
But if I have nothing to hide with
From the cold and darkness?

After parting there will be a meeting,
Don't forget me, darling,
After parting there will be a meeting,
Let's both come back - you and me.

But if I disappear into obscurity -
Short daylight beam -
But if I disappear into obscurity
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
I will pray for you,
So as not to forget the earthly path,
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 was half crying, half sleeping,

Suddenly he bent with a terrible list,
When the train is on a slippery slope
The wheels were torn off the rails.

Superhuman strength
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
Superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone
The promised meeting in the distance,
And didn't protect anyone
A hand calling in the distance.

Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!

Grow into them with all your blood, -

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

His poem was featured in Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Irony of Fate...” Remember? On New Year's Eve. For many, including us, it was a revelation. Although "The Ballad of a Smoky Car" was written in 1932. Sometimes the reader and listener learn about a poet from one poem, which - by accident or not - is placed at the head of all creativity. Such a poem for Alexander Kochetkov was “The Ballad of a Smoky Car.”

A wonderful poem. A rare piece of luck. I’ll start with him. The history of the appearance of “Ballad” is in the notes of the poet’s wife Nina Grigorievna Prozriteleva: “We spent the summer of 1932 in Stavropol with my father. In the fall, Alexander Sergeevich left earlier, I had to come to Moscow later. The ticket was already purchased - Stavropol branch to Kavkazskaya station , there on the direct train Sochi-Moscow. It was difficult to leave, and we delayed it as much as we could. On the eve of departure, we decided to sell a ticket and delay departure for at least three days. These same days are a gift of fate - to experience these days as a continuous holiday.

The reprieve was over, it was necessary to go. A ticket was bought again, and Alexander Sergeevich left. A letter from him from 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 occurred with a Sochi train at the Moskva-tovarnaya station. Acquaintances who were returning from a 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 “Wagon” (“The Ballad of a Smoky Wagon”)...” Protected by fate from the train crash that happened the day before, the poet could not help but think about the nature of chance in human life , over the meaning of meeting and separation, over the fate of beings who love each other.

This is how we find out the date of writing - 1932 - and the dramatic history of the poem, which was published thirty-four years later.

“The Ballad of a Smoky Car” was first published with an introductory note about the poet in the collection “Poetry Day” (1966). Then “Ballad” was included in the anthology “Song of Love” (1967), and since then it has been increasingly included in various collections.

BALLAD OF A SMOKY CAR

- How painful, dear, how strange,
Connected in the ground, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, honey, how strange
Split under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not heal,
Will shed pure tears,
The wound on the heart will not heal -
It will spill with fiery resin.

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

But if I have nothing to hide with
From incurable pity,
But if I have nothing to hide with
From the 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 come back - you and me.

But if I disappear into obscurity -
Short daylight beam -
But if I disappear into obscurity
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
- I will pray for you,
So as not to forget the earthly path,
I will pray for you,
May you return unharmed.

He became homeless and humble,
Shaking in a smoky carriage,
He was half crying, half sleeping,
Suddenly he bent with a terrible list,
When the train is on a slippery slope
The wheels were torn off the rails.

Superhuman strength
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
Superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone
The promised meeting in the distance,
And didn't protect anyone
A hand calling in the distance.

Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Grow into them with all your blood, -
And every time say goodbye forever!
And every time say goodbye forever!
When you leave for a moment!

Don't part with your loved ones.
Everyone knows “The Ballad of a Smoky Car”, but only a few know the author.
Meanwhile, this is an amazing poet, with amazing love lyrics, strong, painful. His poems are often short, very figurative, like Japanese poetry.

Alexander Kochetkov.
He is very often and very unfairly called the poet of one poem. But what! -
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Grow into them with all your blood, -

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

Not words - a spell. Written overnight, based on real events. In the summer of 1932, Alexander Sergeevich and his wife Nina were vacationing in Stavropol with her father. He had to leave earlier; a ticket for the direct Sochi-Moscow train had already been purchased, but at the very last moment Kochetkov handed it over in order to delay the separation from his beloved for at least three days.

Three days flashed by as one; he returned to Moscow, where his friends perceived his appearance as a miracle of resurrection. It turned out that the train for which the ticket was returned had a terrible accident at the Moskva-Tovarnaya station. Many of Kochetkov’s acquaintances, returning from the Sochi sanatorium, died...
In the very first letter that Nina received from her husband from Moscow, there was a poem “Vagon” (“Ballad of a smoky carriage”)..."

It was published for the first time only in 1966, after the poet’s death. During his lifetime, this very kind and pathologically modest man received neither awards nor recognition, although his famous poem thundered long before it was heard by Ryazanov in “The Irony of Fate” - during the war it was copied by hand and sent in letters, just as , like “Wait for me” by Simonov. It went around the fronts often without the name of the author, like a folk one...

- How painful, dear, how strange,
Connected in the ground, intertwined with branches, -
How painful, honey, how strange
Split under the saw.
The wound on the heart will not heal,
Will shed pure tears,
The wound on the heart will not heal -
It will spill with fiery resin.

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

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

- But if I disappear into obscurity -
Short daylight beam -
But if I disappear into obscurity
Beyond the star belt, into the milky smoke?
- I will pray for you,
So as not to forget the earthly path,
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 was half crying, half sleeping,

Suddenly he bent with a terrible list,
When the train is on a slippery slope
The wheels were torn off the rails.

Superhuman strength
In one winepress, crippling everyone,
Superhuman strength
She threw earthly things off the ground.
And didn't protect anyone
The promised meeting in the distance,
And didn't protect anyone
A hand calling in the distance.

Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Don't be separated from your loved ones!
Grow into them with all your blood, -

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

Analysis of the poem “The Ballad of a Smoky Car” (Don’t part with your loved ones!)

The name of A. Kochetkov is practically unknown to the modern reader. Even those who are familiar with the popular Soviet film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoying Light Steam” have no idea that the song “Don’t Part With Your Loved Ones” is based on this poet’s poem “The Ballad of a Smoky Car.” It was written in 1932 and has real story origin.

Kochetkov was waiting to board the train, but could not say goodbye to his wife. Just before departure, she literally forced her husband to stay with her and postpone the trip. After some time, the poet learned that the train on which he was supposed to leave had crashed. Kochetkov, shocked by his lucky escape, wrote the poem “The Ballad of a Smoky Car.” It was accidentally found and published after the author's death. Literally the next day after its publication, the work became popular throughout the country. Thanks to him, Kochetkov’s name finally received the recognition it deserved.

The verse begins with a very touching farewell to the lovers. Lyrical hero afraid of the upcoming separation. He cannot imagine existence without his beloved. Parting is compared to a “splitting under a saw,” which will leave behind an unhealed wound. His beloved calms him down, claiming that their souls will always be together. Wherever main character was not there and no matter what happens to him, he will always feel the presence and support of the woman who loves him. The author connects this love with the image “ native land", which the hero will take with him. The beloved assures that “after parting there will be a meeting,” the guarantee of this will be her fervent prayer.

The main character sets off on a journey. Being in a “smoky carriage”, he feels helpless and submissive. The author describes his condition in in short words“half crying, half sleeping.” A sudden catastrophe in an instant leads to the death of the lover and a huge number of other people. Neither him nor everyone else could be protected and saved by the prayer and hope of loved ones.

The main idea of ​​the poem is that a person’s life depends on millions of random circumstances. Nobody knows what could happen to him at any moment. Therefore, the author conjures several times: “Don’t part with your loved ones!” If this cannot be avoided, then you should always say goodbye “forever,” and not by trying to defend yourself with prayer and hope.