[Carl Copeland]

In a letter to his brother, the 21-year-old Pushkin said this elegy was written at night on shipboard as he sailed from Feodosia to Gurzuf along the Black Sea coast of the Crimea at the start of his southern exile. It opens Pushkin’s romantic, Byronic period and quotes “Childe Harold’s Good Night”: “With thee my bark, I’ll swiftly go / Athwart the foaming brine; / Nor care what land thou bear’st me to, / So not again to mine.”

This is an old translation, and I originally followed Pushkin’s line lengths exactly—unpredictably alternating between hexameter (24 lines), tetrameter (11) and pentameter (5)—but have now shortened about half the hexameter lines to eliminate filler. Further cuts will be harder, but let me know if you think they’re needed.


          The orb of day has spent its luster,
     and evening mist has settled on the sea.
     Flap on, submissive sail, keep up your flutter,
     and tumble underneath me, sullen sea.
          I see a shoreline in the distance,
     the magic landscape of a southern clime—
the land I yearn for—and in agitation I’m
          now overwhelmed by reminiscence …
     Again I feel my eyes well up with tears;
          my heart stands still, then fills to brimming;                               10
     familiar fancy round my head is winging;
and I recall the desperate loves of former years,
and all the heart held dear and all it had to suffer,
desires and hopes that led me on so cruelly …
     Flap on, submissive sail, keep up your flutter,
     and tumble underneath me, sullen sea.
Fly on, tall ship, and at the stormy sea’s caprices,
     now carry me to some far-distant strand,
          just never to the sorry reaches
          of my own foggy native land,                                                    20
          where sparks of feeling first were fanned
          and kindled into flames of passion,
     where tender Muses slipped me smiles in passing,
          where tempests nipped the early bloom
          of my lost youth and left it withered,
     where wingèd joy betrayed me and delivered
     my frigid heart to misery and gloom.
          A seeker after new impressions,
          I fled you, my ancestral clime;
     I fled you, nursed in pleasure’s sweet caresses,                               30
     the fleeting friends of youth’s too fleeting time;
and you, the handmaids of delusory transgressions,
for whom I lovelessly once sacrificed my share
     of freedom, fame and peace, my very essence—
you’re all forgotten, you deceivers young and fair,
the secret loves that in my golden spring were precious,
you’re all forgotten … Yet there’s still no remedy
     for wounds that cut the heart too deep to utter …
     Flap on, submissive sail, keep up your flutter,
     and tumble underneath me, sullen sea …                                        40


Edits
L3: bluster > flutter
L6: landscape of a magic > magic landscape of a
L17: sea’s capricious bidding > stormy sea’s caprices
L19: shores forbidding > sorry reaches
L23: where muses slipped me secret smiles > where tender Muses slipped me smiles


Crib

The day’s luminary has gone out;
mist has fallen on the dark-blue sea.
Sound, sound, obedient sail,
undulate under me, gloomy ocean.
I see a distant shore,
magic lands of a midday (southern) earth/clime;
in agitation and longing, I strive thither,
intoxicated by reminiscence(s) ...
And I feel that tears have been born again in my eyes;
the soul/heart bubbles over and stands still;                                   10
a familiar dream is flying around me;
I recall the mad love of former years,
and all that I suffered and all that [was] dear to the heart,
the agonizing deception of desires and hopes ...
Sound, sound, obedient sail,
undulate under me, gloomy ocean.
Fly, ship, carry me to distant bounds/lands
at the awful/awe-inpiring whim of the deceptive seas,
only not to the sad shores
of my foggy motherland,                                                              20
the country where feelings first
flared into a flame of passions,
where tender muses smiled at me secretly,
where early, in storms,
my lost youth wilted,
where light-winged joy betrayed me
and consigned a cold heart to suffering.
A seeker of new impressions,
I fled you, lands of my fathers;
I fled you, nurslings of pleasures,                                                  30
momentary friends of momentary youth;
and you, handmaids of corrupt delusions,
to whom I, without love, sacrificed myself,
my peace, glory/fame, freedom and soul,
you too are forgotten by me, young deceivers,
secret girlfriends of my golden spring,
you too are forgotten by me ... But nothing has healed
the former wounds of the heart, deep wounds of love ...
Sound, sound, obedient sail,
undulate under me, gloomy ocean ...                                             40


Original

       Погасло дневное светило;
На море синее вечерний пал туман.
   Шуми, шуми, послушное ветрило,
Волнуйся подо мной, угрюмый океан.
       Я вижу берег отдаленный,
Земли полуденной волшебные края;
С волненьем и тоской туда стремлюся я,
       Воспоминаньем упоенный...
И чувствую: в очах родились слезы вновь;
       Душа кипит и замирает;
Мечта знакомая вокруг меня летает;
Я вспомнил прежних лет безумную любовь,
И всё, чем я страдал, и всё, что сердцу мило,
Желаний и надежд томительный обман...
   Шуми, шуми, послушное ветрило,
Волнуйся подо мной, угрюмый океан.
Лети, корабль, неси меня к пределам дальным
По грозной прихоти обманчивых морей,
       Но только не к брегам печальным
       Туманной родины моей,
       Страны, где пламенем страстей
       Впервые чувства разгарались,
Где музы нежные мне тайно улыбались,
       Где рано в бурях отцвела
       Моя потерянная младость,
Где легкокрылая мне изменила радость
И сердце хладное страданью предала.
       Искатель новых впечатлений,
   Я вас бежал, отечески края;
   Я вас бежал, питомцы наслаждений,
Минутной младости минутные друзья;
И вы, наперсницы порочных заблуждений,
Которым без любви я жертвовал собой,
Покоем, славою, свободой и душой,
И вы забыты мной, изменницы младые,
Подруги тайные моей весны златыя,
И вы забыты мной... Но прежних сердца ран,
Глубоких ран любви, ничто не излечило...
   Шуми, шуми, послушное ветрило,
Волнуйся подо мной, угрюмый океан...