And over the weekend, I had also done a translation of Случайный вальс.

Once again, I decided that for this song, it would be worth the trouble to do an "artistic" English translation and preserve some sense of the original's rhymes -- although I found it impossible to be faithful to the meter, and in some places the translation is very far from literal accuracy ("спят облака" became "moonbeams shine," for example).

But I really enjoyed the poetry of the original -- a bittersweet romantic sketch about a boy and a girl who meet by chance and will probably never see each other again -- so I wanted to create a "singable" translation. True, it doesn't fit the original melody, but if you're good at syncopation, you can still sing it as a waltz!

By the way, translating "будем... дружить" as "we'll enjoy a cordial chat" was my attempt to convey the distance and formality of using "вы" instead of "ты." (Слово "cordial" звучит ОЧЕНЬ "на вы" -- вопреки тому, что оно восходит к латинскому cors, с значением "сердце".) And "a handsome pair" (instead of "a wonderful/splendid/gorgeous/lovely pair") is meant to produce the same effect of emotional restraint without too much intimacy.

"An Accidental Waltz"

1:
The night is much too short;
Above, the moonbeams shine,
And your unfamiliar hand
Feels comfortable in mine.
The town is sleeping now,
No more howl of sirens in it.
But some music caught my ear, so
I peeked in -- for just a minute...

Refrain:
Although I barely know you,
And grew up far from here,
It seems like I've come home
To my old house from yesteryear.
Waltzing 'round this empty hall,
We make a handsome pair.
So talk to me a little bit --
About what, I don't care!

2:
We'll whirl around and sing,
And enjoy a cordial chat.
I've quite forgotten how to dance --
Forgive me, please, for that!
Come morning, duty calls;
Our enemies await.
But as I leave your little town,
I'll pass right by your gate...

(Refrain)