Nikolay Bunin was Ivan Bunin’s son born in the marriage with Anna TsaknI. The boy was very cute, with his face like his mother’s, and his eyes were the bright blue, like his father’s. In 1901 Ivan Bunin wrote a poem about his son, the poem was called “Lullaby”:
The nice blue eyes are slowly closing
As the evening mist comes down
Oh, heavenly angels don’t stop
Rocking the baby’s cradle
The spring clouds are burning down sinking in the sunset
And the field is dark and peaceful
The remote, unearthly lights
Are bringing their shine to the open window
Sleep, oh, sleep my baby boy
Sleep like a flower closing its petals
You are my lampion
Carefully looked after by the God
Bunin I.A. “Lullaby”
As the evening mist comes down
Oh, heavenly angels don’t stop
Rocking the baby’s cradle
The spring clouds are burning down sinking in the sunset
And the field is dark and peaceful
The remote, unearthly lights
Are bringing their shine to the open window
Sleep, oh, sleep my baby boy
Sleep like a flower closing its petals
You are my lampion
Carefully looked after by the God
Bunin I.A. “Lullaby”
On March 3, 1901 Bunin wrote to MarIa ChEkhova from OdEssa: “This is a cute and healthy boy with the bright blue eyes. I visit him every two days.” One week after he wrote in this letter to NikolAy TeleshOv: “I go to visit my son every two days, to see my KOlya, if I were refused to see him, I would have kicked up a row. I actually did, not too serious, however. That”s a pity that I have to go away from my child, but the spring has begun. My life includes visiting my mates and working. I”ll stay here for 10 more days.” Ivan AleksEevich could meet his son five times a year, and, according to him, during his visits “all the family members stayed behind the closed doors and breathed anger at him.” KOlya was rushing towards him, threw his arms around his father’s neck, and shouted loudly: ‘Dad, give me a ride on the tram! “. Those moments which he was spending with his son were the most precious ones for the writer. Bunin sometimes complained to his relatives and friends that the TsaknI family put obstacles for him to visit his son, as he recalled sometimes he even found his son alone on the beach waiting for him… In January 1905, in Moscow, Bunin received news of KOlya”s illness, followed by the tragic news of his death on January 16.
According to Vera Zaitseva, a friend of Vera MUromtseva, who met Bunin in one of the Moscow streets those days, the grief caused by his son”s death completely “destroyed him”.
According to Vera Zaitseva, a friend of Vera MUromtseva, who met Bunin in one of the Moscow streets those days, the grief caused by his son”s death completely “destroyed him”.
