Aleksandr Pushkin, 1799-1837. Russian writer who wrote the novel Eugene Onegin (1831), the play Boris Godunov (1831), and many narrative and lyrical poems and short stories.
The moon hangs low above the hills, The night has hushed the dale and fills The forest with a mortal gloom... Here rides Naina's knavish groom.
The charming shepherdess the while Took in their converse unconstrained; Her gaze upon her lover trained, She offered him now sigh, now smile.
Ah, jailer, whose pernicious lust Would now indulge me, now torment me--- Your evil might cannot prevent me From choosing death: I can! I must... I have no stomach for your tents, Your tedious songs, your blandishments--- I want no meals, no tunes, no meeting, I'll die amidst your opulence!
One day I drove at early morning My flocks to graze, and played upon The bagpipe as the herd assembled; A brook ran babbling through the heath, By which a fair young beauty rambled Alone, and wove a flowery wreath.
He plucks the stars from heaven's reaches, He whistles, and the moon will quake, But what the law of eons teaches That all his magic cannot shake. That jealous palpitating warder Of his unyielding locks and gates Is but an impotent marauder To the sweet captive that he baits.
Sit down and hear what I shall say. From you Liudmila has been wrested; Your hardy spirit, sorely tested, Would flag; yet woe will swiftly flee; Brief is your clash with destiny. Pluck up your faith and hope, serenely Brave all, do not despond; fare forth, And brace your heart and sword more keenly To carve a pathway to the North.
And now it ends. The diners, surging, Arise, in noisy swarms converging, All gazing at the newly wed: The bride looked down, her color altered, As if her modest spirit faltered, The happy bridegroom cheered instead.
More Quotes by Aleksandr Pushkin: Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
