Sergei Yesenin

Tell Me Why the Moon Shines Palely

Tell Me Why the Moon Shines Palely - meaning Summary

Heartache Under Pale Moon

The speaker questions the pale moon and seeks answers from nature. Trees and flowers respond, and a rose reveals the cause: Shaganeh's unfaithfulness and a betrayed love that makes the moon seem sad. The poem frames personal betrayal as a sorrow that echoes through the landscape, mixing intimate pain with folklike storytelling and personified nature. It closes with a bittersweet note: lilac evenings remain beautiful despite the underlying grief.

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"Tell me why the moon shines palely On the city wall and orchards? It's as though the mist were veiling Russian fields laid bare by autumn" - To the nightly silent cypress, Lala dear, I put this question. But the trees made no reply to me, Raising their proud crowns to heaven. "Tell me why the moon shines sadly?" I asked flowers' in the coppice. "From the fluttering rose," they answered, "You shall find the cause of sorrow." Then the rose, her petals spreading, In dismay and sadness fluttered: "Shaganeh has been unfaithful, Shaganeh has kissed another, "Saying: 'The Russian will not notice... Hearts need songs, but songs a body...' That is why the moon has grown so Sadly pale and shines so wanly. "It has seen too much deception, Tears and torments none were seeking." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But despite this ever blessed Are these lilac-blossom evenings.

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