Modern Russian Poetry/Verses Written During a Sleepless Night

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Modern Russian Poetry
translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky
Verses Written During a Sleepless Night by Alexander Pushkin
1561549Modern Russian Poetry — Verses Written During a Sleepless NightBabette Deutsch and Avrahm YarmolinskyAlexander Pushkin

VERSES WRITTEN DURING A SLEEPLESS NIGHT

Sleep I cannot find, nor light:
Everywhere is dark and slumber,
Only weary tickings number
The slow hours of the night.
Parca, jabbering, woman-fashion,
Sleeping night, without compassion,
Life, who stirs like rustling mice,
Why encage me in thy vise?
Why the whispering insistence,—
Art thou but the pale persistence
Of a day departed twice?
What black failures dost thou reckon?
Dost thou prophesy or beckon?
I would know whence thou art sprung,
I would study thy dark tongue . . .

 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse