Thursday, August 2, 2012

A message from Pushkin (and me)


 A portrait of Alexander Pushkin
(1799 - 1837)
 Artist: Orest Kiprensky (1782 - 1836)


A poem by Alexander Pushkin
           translated by Alexandra Palmer

Если жизнь тебя обманет,
          When life’s promises are hollow,
Не печалься, не сердись!
          Do not grieve, do not be cross!
В день уныния смирись:
          On a sad day bear your cross:
День веселья, верь, настанет.
          Day of joy, have faith, will follow.

Сердце в будущем живет;
          In the future dwells the heart;
Настоящее уныло:
          Dismal present holds no pleasure:
Все мгновенно, все пройдет;
          All is fleeting, all will part;
Что пройдет, то будет мило.
          What will part, will be a treasure.



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

10 comments:

  1. This is wonderful. Thanks for the inspiring thought for today. :)

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  2. Oh, I am so glad you liked it! Thank you, Misky.

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  3. You are a treasure! Thanks for the translation ~J

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  4. Jules, thank you, you made me blush :-)

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  5. Yes, much wisdom herein!! So glad to read this...too many times one might wallow in grievous hard times forgetting that it is gain and eventual glory!! Great read and I think it's wintry enough! ;)

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  6. This is Beautiful. Thank-you for the translation. that is so cool.

    And thank-you for your ever-encouraging words. When I suggested to my two older girls that you thought they could submit for me I think I heard a half-hearted grunt:))

    Ever since the day we took those wheat-field pics in that collage I have been suffering from something which they are now thinking maybe is poison Ivy! The meds they give me are strong and give me insane insomnia so sometimes when I can't sleep I write...

    We leave for a week of vacation tomorrow. See you when we get back!

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  7. I'm so sorry. I've never had poison ivy myself, but I heard about it. The plant looks so harmless... Get well, have a great vacation no matter what!
    Thank you for visiting, Janet :-)

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  8. I giggled [not something I do] when I saw the portrait and went back to my site to read your reasons why this is a winter poem. Hysterical... the reasons, not the translation, which is lovely. I don't think I have read Pushkin. Now I want to.

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    1. Nothing like a good healthy giggle :-)
      Thank you, Margo.

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