Mikhail Lermontov

The Angel

The angel was flying through sky in midnight, And softly he sang in his flight; And clouds, and stars, and the moon in a throng Hearkened to that holy song. He sang of the garden of God’s paradise, Of innocent ghosts in its shade; He sang of the God, and his vivacious praise Was glories...

The Beggar.

By gates of an abode, blessed, A man stood, asking for donation, A beggar, cruelly oppressed By hunger, thirst and deprivation. He asked just for a piece of bread, And all his looks were full of anguish, And was a cold stone laid Into his stretched arm, thin and languished. Thus I prayed vainly for...

The Captive Knight.

By a loophole, I sit in my prison, Could see the blue of the heaven from there, I feel sharp pain and a shame at the vision Of heedless birds, freely playing in air. On my dry lips, I’ve not any prayers, Nor any songs, that have ever to fly on, But I remember the […]

Confession.

I’m to believe, but with some fear, For I haven’t tried it all before, That every monk could be sincere And live as he by altar swore; That smiles and kisses of all people Could be perfidious only once; That, sometimes, they forgive the little Mistakes, the others make by chance; That time...

The Cross On the Rock.

I know a rock in a highland’s ravine, On which only eagles might ever be seen, But a black wooden cross o’er a precipice reigns, It rots and it ages from tempests and rains. And many years have gone without any hints, From times when it was seen from faraway hills. And its every arm...

The Dagger.

Yes, I like you, my knife of damask pledge, My friend so bright and so cold, A thoughtful Georgian forged you for his revenge, A free Circassian then sharpened for a row. You had been trusted me by lily-like a hand – A sign for memory – in time of separation, And now no blood […]

Death Of the Poet.

The Bard is killed! The honor’s striver Fell, slandered by a gossip’s dread, With lead in breast and vengeful fire, Drooped with his ever-proud head. The Poet’s soul did not bear The shameful hurts of low breed, He fought against the worldly “faire,” Alone as always,...

Don’t Trust In Self…

Don’t trust in self, my dreamer young, don’t trust, Beware, like ulcers, inspiration… It is the heavy fit of your unhealthy heart, Or jailed ideas’ irritation. Don’t seek in inspiration Heaven’s stuff: That’s your blood boils or powers you over! Let troubles fast extinguish all your...

The Dream.

The glen of Daghestan, at noon, was hot and gleaming; I lay on sand with lead sent to my heart, My deadly wound was deep and easily steaming; And, drop by drop, was oozing out blood. I lay on sand of this small glen, alone; High cliffs surrounded my motionless head. The sun was scorching […]

The First Of January

When I often stay a motley crowd in, When before my eyes, as in an awful dream, To humming orchestras and dances, And foolish whispering of speeches learnt by eart, Flit figures of the people lost of heart, And masques with a false politeness; When my hands are touched, by any chance, With heedless...

Forever You, the Unwashed Russia!

Forever you, the unwashed Russia! The land of slaves the land of lords: And you, the blue-uniformed ushers, And people who worship them as gods. I hope, from your tyrannic hounds To save me with Caucasian wall: From their eye, that sees through ground, From their ears, that hear all.

From Goethe

Tops of dreaming highlands Darken in a night; Valleys lull, in silence, A fresh dim inside; Dust sleeps on a road, Leafage does not shake. Wait a little more, You’ll too have a break. 1840

Gratitude

For all, for all! I thank you, o my dear: For passions’ deeply hidden pledge, For poison of a kiss, and stinging of a tear, Abuse by friends, and enemies’ revenge; For soul’s light, extinguished in a prison, For things by which I was deceived before. But do not give me any real...

He Has Been Born…

He has been born for hopes and for joys, For inspirations peaceful! — But, a crazy, He early left the world of fairy tales and toys And threw his heart in a sea of high life, hazy. God did not saved him from the world at once! Thus a ripe fruit, which early had matured, […]

I Come Out To the Path…

I come out to the path, alone, Night and wildness are referred to God, Through the mist, the road gleams with stone, Stars are speaking in the shinning lot. There is grave and wonderful in heaven; Earth is sleeping in a pale-blue light… Why is then my heart such pined and heavy? Is it waiting...

I Want To Live…

I want to live; I crave for sadness – Against my bliss and love, in truth; They sank my mind in idle gladness And made my brow very smooth. It’s time for high life’s derogation To blow away the hazy peace; What is bard’s life, void of desolation? And what are void of...

Jewish Melody

My heart is in a gloom. Be fast, Oh bard, be fast! There is a harp of gold: And let your fingers, that on strings are cast, Wake sounds of the God’s Abode. And if a cruel fate kills hopes not at once, They’ll wake up in my poor soul, And if a drop of […]

Loneliness

It’s Hell for us to draw the fetters Of life in alienation, stiff. All people prefer to share gladness, And nobody – to share grief. As a king of air, I’m lone here, The pain lives in my heart, so grim, And I can see that, to the fear Of fate, years pass me by […]

My Country

I love my land, but with a queer passion, My mind isn’t able to absorb it, yet! Nor glory, purchased by the bloody actions, Nor peace, in proud confidence inlaid, Nor sacred sagas of the days of yore Will stir my pleasant fancies any more. But I do love – and I don’t know why...

My Home

My home is always there,in the heaven’s vault, Where one just hears lyre’s sounds, All with a spark of life have here their resort, A bard has, too, a space around. It gets the farthest stars by edges of his roof, And from a wall to one another There is a path whose measure can...

The Neighbor

No matter who you are, my neighbor, always sad, I like you, yet, as my young years’ friend – My comrade by a mischance-law – Though the fate’s manipulative hand Divided us for time without end, Now by wall, then – by the unknown. When half-light of the everyday sunrise, Through grates...

No, I’m Not Byron…

No, I’m not Byron; I am, yet, Another choice for the sacred dole, Like him – a persecuted soul, But only of the Russian set. I early start and end the whole, And will not win the future days; Like in an ocean, in my soul, A cargo of lost hopes stays. Who, oh, my […]

No, Not with You…

No, not with you I fell in love so fast, And not for me your beauty is succeeding; I love in you my suffering preceding, And youth of mine, that perished in the past. And when sometimes my look is long and hard, And penetrates your eyes of high perfection; I’m busy with a secret […]

Not with the Proud Kind Of Beauty

Not with the proud kind of beauty She charms the animated youth, And she doesn’t drag behind her booty – The crowd of her slaves, confused. Her waist isn’t one of any goddess, Her breast does not rise like sea waves, And nobody calls her gorgeous, While falling on his knees on...