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
A few random poems:
- All That’s Past by Walter de la Mare
- Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Paradise Lost: Book 09 poem – John Milton poems
- Константин Бальмонт – Мы прячем, душим тонкой сетью лжи
- Alone You Passed by William Ellery Leonard
- Владимир Маяковский – Наши поправки в англо-советский договор (Красный перец)
- Intruder
- Our Soul’s Gestation
- Огюст Барбье – Кьяйя
- Владислав Ходасевич – Новый год
- A Traveller’s Guide to the East Indies by S. K. Kelen
- Birthday Ode for 31st December, 1787 by Robert Burns
- Slag by Mark Base
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на день восшествия на престол Ее Величества 1753 года
- Robert Burns: O Wat Ye Wha’s In Yon Town:
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
- Angry People by Roger Hayes
- You and I by Roger McGough
- Who hears the wind by Roland Zoss
- Waiting by Rohith
- The Trouble with Snowmen by Roger McGough
- The Time I Like Best by Roger McGough
- The Lesson by Roger McGough
- The Leader by Roger McGough
- The Identification by Roger McGough
- Survivor by Roger McGough
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Soil by Roger McGough
- Silences still voice by Rohini Bhatia Singj
- Schlummerland – Slumberland / CD by Roland Zoss
- Prayer by Roland Flint
- Ladies And Gentlemen In Outer Space by Ron Padgett
- ode to love by Rohit Sridharan
- My iPod by Roland Bastien
- Mrs Moon by Roger McGough
- Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough
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.