The Lonely Road

Lermontov, Alone I Pass Along the Lonely Road (tr. John Pollen):

            Alone I pass along the lonely road,

            Thro’ gathering mist the pebbly pathway gleams;

            The night is still;—the void remembers God,

            And star vibrates to star with speaking beams.

            A wondrous glory moves across the sky;

            Soft sleeps the earth in dove-grey azure light.

            Why aches my heart? Why troubled thus am I?

            What wait I for, what grieve I for, this night?

            No more from life can I expect to gain,

            And for the “has been” it were vain to weep;

            I simply seek repose, release from pain,

            And fain would rest, forgetting all, in sleep.

            But not the sleep which the cold tomb implies;

            But rather would I rest for ages so

            That in my breast the strength of life might rise

            In gentle wavelets, heaving to and fro.

            The while that in my ears by night and day,

            A sweet voice sang of ceaseless love to me;

            And o’er me leaned, greening in every spray

            And faintly whispering, my dark cedar tree.