Translation of Poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, "На холмах Грузии лежит ночная мгла," "The hills of Georgia lie quiescent, swathed in night"

 

Aleksandr Pushkin

(1799-1837)

 

На холмах Грузии лежит ночная мгла;
Шумит Арагва предо мною.
Мне грустно и легко; печаль моя светла;
Печаль моя полна тобою,
Тобой, одной тобой… Унынья моего
Ничто не мучит, не тревожит,
И сердце вновь горит и любит — оттого,
Что не любить оно не может.

1829

 

d

 

Literal Translation

 

Upon the hills of Georgia lies the murk of night;

Before my eyes the Aragva River roars.

I feel sad and at ease; my sorrow is bright;

My sorrow is full of you,

Of you, you alone . . . Nothing torments

Nor troubles my melancholy,

And my heart burns and loves anew—because

It cannot help loving.

 

d

Literary Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie

 

The hills of Georgia lie quiescent, swathed in night;

Tallulah River’s rapids in the gorge below are raging.

I feel at ease with anguish; my melancholy’s bright,

Suffused with you, the anguish is engaging.

So full of you and you alone that sorrow

Seems not the least aggrieved by pain or woes,

My love flames up, will burn still on the morrow, 

For love cannot but burn when in love’s throes.                                                                                       

                                                                                            Date of translation: March, 2022

 

                                                              Tallulah Gorge in Autumn

Declamation of the poem in Russian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI7Mit6FjbM&ab_channel=%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2