Temporal
Trans-re-lated from Russian
Do Pray
Do pray! A prayer does lend wings
To a soul nailed down to earth,
And cuts away the key of plenty
In rocks overgrown with thorns.
To a soul nailed down to earth,
And cuts away the key of plenty
In rocks overgrown with thorns.
It is a shroud for us against helplessness.
It is a star in the foppish fog.
And the sacrifice of pure praying is
An incorrupt fimiam for the soul,
It is a star in the foppish fog.
And the sacrifice of pure praying is
An incorrupt fimiam for the soul,
From the out-of-reach abodes
An angel bright flies down to us
With a refreshing cup of satiety
That burns the hearts with thirst.
An angel bright flies down to us
With a refreshing cup of satiety
That burns the hearts with thirst.
Do pray – when as a serpent cold
Yearning penetrates your bosom;
Do pray – when in the barren steppes
Your dreams' path has been laid,
Yearning penetrates your bosom;
Do pray – when in the barren steppes
Your dreams' path has been laid,
And for the heart – an orphan with no kith or kin,
There is no shelter, nowhere to take some rest.
Do pray – when boiling in you as a deaf stream
Is your struggle against passions;
There is no shelter, nowhere to take some rest.
Do pray – when boiling in you as a deaf stream
Is your struggle against passions;
Do pray – when before a mighty destiny
You hold no weapon and are weak;
Do pray – when fate happens
To gladden you with amiable eye.
You hold no weapon and are weak;
Do pray – when fate happens
To gladden you with amiable eye.
Do pray, do pray! All sinews of
your soul
Do outpour in a fervent prayer
When your golden-winged angel –
Having torn away the shroud off your eyes –
Directs them to an image sweet,
that your soul seemingly has dreamed of.
Do outpour in a fervent prayer
When your golden-winged angel –
Having torn away the shroud off your eyes –
Directs them to an image sweet,
that your soul seemingly has dreamed of.
Both on a clear day and under threat,
In the face of happiness or of disaster,
And no matter whether passing over you
Is a cloud shadow or a starry ray.
In the face of happiness or of disaster,
And no matter whether passing over you
Is a cloud shadow or a starry ray.
Do pray! Through a sacred prayer
There grow in us the mystic fruits.
All's vague in this life swift-running.
All has to pay tribute to decay.
And joy must need be fragile [and precarious],
And each and every rose must come into flower.
There grow in us the mystic fruits.
All's vague in this life swift-running.
All has to pay tribute to decay.
And joy must need be fragile [and precarious],
And each and every rose must come into flower.
What shall be – is far beyond the
eyesight,
And unreliable is that which is.
The prayers only shall not tell lies
And they shall word the mystery of life,
And unreliable is that which is.
The prayers only shall not tell lies
And they shall word the mystery of life,
And tears that drop with prayer
Into the orifices of goodness' vessel,
Shall spring up as living pearls
And shall embrace the soul with brilliance.
Into the orifices of goodness' vessel,
Shall spring up as living pearls
And shall embrace the soul with brilliance.
And you – shining so happily
With beams of hope and beauty –
In those days when a young soul
Is a sanctuary of virgin dreams, –
With beams of hope and beauty –
In those days when a young soul
Is a sanctuary of virgin dreams, –
Do not trust too much the earthly
Flowers of an earthly paradise.
But do believe with childlike simplicity
In what we have not from the earth,
What for the mind is covered with darkness,
But to the heart is visible from afar,
Flowers of an earthly paradise.
But do believe with childlike simplicity
In what we have not from the earth,
What for the mind is covered with darkness,
But to the heart is visible from afar,
And to bright sacraments with
prayer
Elate your hopes with wings.
Elate your hopes with wings.
~1840~
~(To M. A. Barteneva)~
Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky (1792-1878)
~(To M. A. Barteneva)~
Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky (1792-1878)
