Sergei Yesenin

Out-up Is a Crescent; Down, a Wind Is Blowing

Out-up Is a Crescent; Down, a Wind Is Blowing - meaning Summary

Homesick for Simple Songs

The poem evokes a late-evening rural scene—wind, silvery poplar down, distant singing—while the speaker remembers past warmth and simple loves. Sensory images anchor a sense of nostalgia and estrangement: familiar songs and a linden tree (and a former beloved) are distant or unresponsive now. The tone shifts between laughter and tears, suggesting bittersweet resignation to time’s changes and the speaker’s feeling of being disconnected from former comforts.

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Out-up is a crescent; down, a wind is blowing. Settling poplar wool is silvery and glowing. Far 'talianka sobbing, solitary descant, Is so sweetly homey and so sadly distant. Crafty runs now giggle, now burst out crying. Where are you, my linden? Age ol' mine, where are you? Once, I also used to go to see a honey, Fanning out 'talianka, in the morn on Sunday. Only I mean nothing to that honey these days. Have to laugh and cry to someone else's ditties.

* 'talianka (from Italian) is an Italian fashion single-row button accordion, popular in Russia in the first half of the 20th century.
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