A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation
In lakeside leafy groves, a friar
Escaped all worries; there he passed
His summer days in constant prayer,
Deep studies and eternal fast.
Already with a humble shovel
The elder dug himself a grave –
As, calling saints to bless his hovel,
Death; nothing other; did he crave.
So once, upon a falling night, he
Was bowing by his wilted shack
With meekest prayer to the Almighty.
The grove was turning slowly black;
Above the lake a mist was lifting;
Through milky clouds across the sky
The ruddy moon was softly drifting,
When water drew the friar’s eye…
He’s looking puzzled, full of trouble,
Of fear he cannot quite explain,
He sees the waves begin to bubble
And suddenly grow calm again.
Then — white as first snow in the highlands,
Light-footed as nocturnal shade,
There comes ashore, and sits in silence
Upon the bank, a naked maid.
She eyes the monk and brushes gently
Her hair, and water off her arms.
He shakes with fear and looks intently
At her, and at her lovely charms.
With eager hand she waves and beckons,
Nods quickly, smiles as from afar
And shoots, within two flashing seconds,
Into still water like a star.
The glum old man slept not an instant;
All day, not even once he prayed:
Before his eyes still hung and glistened
The wondrous, the relentless shade…
The grove puts on its gown of nightfall;
The moon walks on the cloudy floor;
And there’s the maiden; pale, delightful,
Reclining on the spellbound shore.
She looks at him, her hair she brushes,
Blows airy kisses, gestures wild,
Plays with the waves; caresses, splashes –
Now laughs, now whimpers like a child,
Moans tenderly, calls louder, louder…
“Come, monk, come, monk! To me, to me!..”
Then; disappears in limpid water,
And all is silent instantly…
On the third day the zealous hermit
Was sitting by the shore, in love,
Awaiting the delightful mermaid,
As shade was covering the grove…
Dark ceded to the sun’s emergence;
Our monk had wholly disappeared –
Before a crowd of local urchins,
While fishing, found his hoary beard.
translated by: Genia Gurarie
email: egurarie@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~egurarie/
Copyright ©:
Genia Gurarie
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- To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time by William Butler Yeats
- A Wold Friend by William Barnes
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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
- Limericks by Robby Charters
- It is a Show by Rixa White
- Haiku by Robby Charters
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- For what’s worth breathing by Rixa White
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- Drowned in Illusion by Rixa White
- Dropping Truth on That Pretty Little Head by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- Clinic by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- An Untold Love by Rixa White
- A Wandering Knight by Rixa White
- A Slight Change by Rixa White
- A Perfect World by Robby Charters
- Winged And Acid Dark by Robert Hass
- Under Cover of Night by Robert Desnos
- The Voice of Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
- The Sympathies of the Long Married by Robert Bly
- The Song of the Borderguard by Robert Duncan
- The Ring of Stars by Robert Desnos
- The Cat in the Kitchen by Robert Bly
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
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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.