Alexander Pushkin
(born 1799-killed in duel 1837)

"The clock of doom had struck as fated;
the poet, without a sound,
let fall his pistol on the ground."
Eugene Onegin
Chapter 6, Stanza 30

Dying...
"REMEMBRANCE"
by Alexander Pushkin

WHEN the loud day for men who sow and reap
Grows still and on the silence of the town
The unsubstantial veils of night and sleep,
The meed of day's labour, settle down,
Then for me in the stillness of the night
The wasting, watchful hours drag on their course,
And in the idle darkness comes the bite
Of all the burning serpents of remorse;
Dreams seethe; and fretful infelicities
Are swarming in my over-burdened soul,
And Memory before my wakeful eyes
With noiseless hand unwinds her lengthy scroll.
Then, as with loathing I peruse the years,
I tremble, and I curse my natal day,
Wail bitterly, and bitterly shed tears,
But cannot wash the woeful script away.

Back to John Keats Page