A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation
I love you; though it makes me beat,
Though vain it seems, and melancholy –
Yet to this shameless, hapless folly
I’ll be confessing at your feet.
It ill becomes me: that I’m older,
Time I should be more sensible…
And yet the frivolous disorder
Fills every jitter of my soul.
Say you’ll be gone; I’m jaded, yawning;
You’re back; I’m sad, I suffer through –
Yet how can I be clear, from owning,
My angel, all my care for you!
When off the stairs your weightless footfall,
Your dress’s rustle, reaches me,
Your voice, as maidenly, as youthful –
I lose my senses instantly.
You smile at me; I’m glad, immensely;
Ignore me; and I’m sad, again;
Your pallid hand will recompense me
For the whole day of utter pain.
When you’re embroidering, or setting
Your eye on something fair, or letting
Your hair amuse you; I’m beguiled;
In silence, reddening, all forgetting
I watch you like a spellbound child.
But then how wretched my existence,
How desolate my jealous pain,
When you set out into the distance
To wander in the cold and rain;
And then your solitary grievings,
Or, in the corner, twosome talks,
Or twosome piano in the evenings,
Or twosome trips, or twosome walks…
Alina! just a little mercy –
I dare not even mention love:
For sins I have been guilty of,
My angel, of your care unworthy…
But feign it! All can be achieved
By that absorbing gaze, believe me…
Oh, it takes little to deceive me –
I cannot wait to be deceived!
translated by: Genia Gurarie
email: egurarie@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~egurarie/
Copyright ©:
Genia Gurarie
A few random poems:
- Николай Некрасов – Взирает он на жизнь сурово, строго
- Robert Burns: A Dream: Thoughts, words, and deeds, the Statute blames with reason; But surely Dreams were ne’er indicted Treason. On reading, in the public papers, the Laureate’s Ode, with the other parade of June 4th, 1786, the Author was no sooner dropt asleep, than he imagined himself transported to the Birth-day Levee: and, in his dreaming fancy, made the following Address:
- Владимир Британишский – Смерть Крылова
- I Rose Up at the Dawn of Day by William Blake
- Николай Карамзин – Граф Гваринос
- Юнна Мориц – Вместо сноски
- Sir Giles’ War-Song by William Morris
- Nature And the Book poem – Alfred Austin
- Anticipation, October 1803 by William Wordsworth
- Duns Scotus’s Oxford poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Василий Тредиаковский – Ну, так уже я не стал быть вашим отныне
- Алишер Навои – Нет, не от слез кровавых одежда моя красней
- The Master of the Dance by Vachel Lindsay
- Everymaid by John Oxenham
- A Wren’s Nest by William Wordsworth
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Astrophel and Stella: III by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: I by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel And Stella-First Song by Sir Philip Sidney
- To The Honble Commodore Hood on His Pardoning a Deserter by Phillis Wheatley
- To Mrs. Leonard on The Death of Her Husband by Phillis Wheatley
- Phillis Wheatley – Phillis Wheatley
- On The Death of Mr. Snider Murder’d By Richardson by Phillis Wheatley
- On Messrs Hussey and Coffin by Phillis Wheatley
- On Friendship by Phillis Wheatley
- To The Honble Commodore Hood on His Pardoning a Deserter by Phillis Wheatley
- His Excellency General Washington by Phillis Wheatley
- On Friendship by Phillis Wheatley
- America by Phillis Wheatley
- To The University Of Cambridge, In New-England by Phillis Wheatley
- To The Right Honourable William, Earl Of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary Of The State For North-America, by Phillis Wheatley
- To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory by Phillis Wheatley
- To The King’s Most Excellent Majesty by Phillis Wheatley
- To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter by Phillis Wheatley
- To S.M., A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works by Phillis Wheatley
- To Mæcenas by Phillis Wheatley
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1937) was a Russian poet, playwright and prose writer, founder of the realistic trend in Russian literature, literary critic and theorist of literature, historian, publicist, journalist; one of the most important cultural figures in Russia in the first third of the 19th century.