Devils poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation

Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;

Flying snow is set alight

By the moon whose form they cover;

Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.

On and on our coach advances,

Little bell goes din-din-din…

Round are vast, unknown expanses;

Terror, terror is within.

— Faster, coachman! “Can’t, sir, sorry:

Horses, sir, are nearly dead.

I am blinded, all is blurry,

All snowed up; can’t see ahead.

Sir, I tell you on the level:

We have strayed, we’ve lost the trail.

What can WE do, when a devil

Drives us, whirls us round the vale?

“There, look, there he’s playing, jolly!

Huffing, puffing in my course;

There, you see, into the gully

Pushing the hysteric horse;

Now in front of me his figure

Looms up as a queer mile-mark —

Coming closer, growing bigger,

Sparking, melting in the dark.”

Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;

Flying snow is set alight

By the moon whose form they cover;

Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.

We can’t whirl so any longer!

Suddenly, the bell has ceased,

Horses halted… — Hey, what’s wrong there?

“Who can tell! — a stump? a beast?..”

Blizzard’s raging, blizzard’s crying,

Horses panting, seized by fear;

Far away his shape is flying;

Still in haze the eyeballs glare;

Horses pull us back in motion,

Little bell goes din-din-din…

I behold a strange commotion:

Evil spirits gather in —

Sundry, ugly devils, whirling

In the moonlight’s milky haze:

Swaying, flittering and swirling

Like the leaves in autumn days…

What a crowd! Where are they carried?

What’s the plaintive song I hear?

Is a goblin being buried,

Or a sorceress married there?

Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;

Flying snow is set alight

By the moon whose form they cover;

Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.

Swarms of devils come to rally,

Hurtle in the boundless height;

Howling fills the whitening valley,

Plaintive screeching rends my heart…

translated by: Genia Gurarie

email: egurarie@princeton.edu

Copyright ©: 
Genia Gurarie

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Владимир Набоков – Как часто я в поезде скором by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – К Родине by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Из мира уползли, и ноют на луне by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – И видел я, стемнели неба своды by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Глаза by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Есть в одиночестве свобода by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Еще безмолвствую и крепну я в тиши by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Цветет миндаль на перекрестке by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Будь со мной прозрачнее и проще by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Большая медведица by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Безумец by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Набоков – Барс by Владимир Набоков
• Владимир Маяковский – Журнал “Крысодав” by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Живой труп (РОСТА №182) by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Жид by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Земля наша обильна by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Застрельщики by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Заря Коммуны разгорается туго… (РОСТА №856) by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Заносы не дают железным дорогам жить… (РОСТА №838) by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Заграничная штучка by Владимир Маяковский

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works