Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday Night Poetry: Pushkin

Aleksandr Pushkin was a Russian poet from the early 19th century. In Russia, even in the time of the Tsars, a poet always had to be a little careful. But in this poem, Puskin was young.


Seclusion


Blessed is he who in secluded leisure,
Far from an idiot's brazen ways,
Between hard work and lazy pleasure—
old thoughts and new hopes—divides his days—
And whose friends by gentle fate were chosen
So as to rescue him, lucky pup,
Both from that character who sends you dozing,
And from that character who wakes you up.


—Aleksandr Pushkin