Remembrance

When trade and traffic and all the noise of town
Is dimmed, and on the streets and squares
The filmy curtain of the night sinks down
With sleep, the recompense of cares,
To me the darkness brings nor sleep nor rest.
A pageant of the torturing hours
Drags its slow course, and, writhing in my breast,
A fangfcd snake my heart devours.
My fears take form, and on the wearied brain
Grief comes, in waves that overflow,
And Memory turns a scroll to tell again
A legend that too well I know.
Reading the past with horror, shame, and dread,
I tremble and I curse,
But the repentant tears, the bitter tears I shed
Will not wash out a single verse.

Translated by R. M. Hewitt

A.S. Pushkin. Remembrance (“When trade and traffic and all the noise of town...”). Translated by R. M. Hewitt // Alexander Pushkin. Collected Works: Parallel Russian Text and English Translation.
© Электронная публикация — РВБ, 2022—2024. Версия 2.1 от 30 ноября 2023 г.