The Black Shawl poem – Alexander Pushkin

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

As of senses bereft, at a black shawl I stare,

And my chill heart is tortured with deadly despair.

When dreaming too fondly in credulous youth,

I loved a Greek maiden with passion and truth.

My Greek girl was gentle and loving and fair;

But my joy quickly sank in a day of despair.

Once I feasted gay friends; ere the banquet was o’er

A Jew, the accursed, softly knocked at my door.

“Thou art laughing,” he whispered,”in pleasure’s mad whirl;

But she hath betrayed thee, thy young Grecian girl.”

I cursed him; but gold as a guerdon I gave,

And took as companion my trustiest slave.

My swift charger I mounted; at once we depart,

And the soft voice of pity was stilled in my heart.

The Greek maiden’s dwelling I hardly could mark,

For my limbs they grew faint, and my eyes they grew dark.

I silently entered-alone and amazed;

An Armenian was kissing the girl as I gazed.

I saw not the light; but I seized my good blade;

The betrayer ne’er finished the kiss that betrayed.

On his warm, headless body I trampled, then spurn’d,

And silent and pale to the maiden I turned.

I remember her prayers-in her blood how she strove;

Then perished my Greek girl-then perished my love.

I tore the black shawl from her head as she lay,

Wiped the blood-dripping weapon, and hurried away.

When the mists of the evening rose gloomy, my slave

Threw each corpse in the Danube’s dark fastrolling wave.

Since then no bewildering eyes can delight;

Since then I forbear festive banquets at night.

As of senses bereft, at a black shawl I stare,

And my chill heart is tortured with deadly despair.

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 

• On A Goldfinch, Starved To Death In His Cage by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Fowler, By Isidorus by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Battered Beauty (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Bath, By Plato by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 9: The Contrite Heart by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 7: Vanity of the World by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 68: Light Shining Out Of Darkness by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 67: Longing To Be With Christ by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 66: I Will Praise The Lord At All Times by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 64: Praise For Faith by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 63: Not Of Works by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 61: The Narrow Way by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 60: Abuse Of The Gospel by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 59: A Living And A Dead Faith by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 57: The New Convert by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 56: Hatred Of Sin by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 55: The Heart Healed And Changed By Mercy by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 54: Love Constraining To Obedience by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 53: My Soul Thirsteth For God by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 52: For The Poor by William Cowper by William Cowper

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