Lermontov Poem

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So sad, so boring

So sad, so boring, no hands to shake

When sorrow fills your mind 

Dreams and desires are all fake

And your best years—behind!

Why bother loving? Love will pass

No, eternal love one cannot attain.

And when I look into my past 

Both joy and tears seem vain...

Sooner or later, a cold mind

Will heal the pain of passion

And life, as you coldly look behind

Seems just a joke—stupid, old-fashioned... 

(1840)

OBJECTS OF HIS AFFECTION. Lermontov had many loves in his short life (clockwise from top right): Yekaterina Sishkova (unknown artist), to whom the poet dedicated a whole cycle of poems, later dubbed “Sushkovskiye.” Alexandra Vereshchagina (artist unknown), a relative on his mother’s side, in whose album Lermontov scribed many poems. His poem “Angel of Death” is dedicated to her. Varvara Lopukhina (water color by Lermontov) was one of Lermontov’s greatest loves. He dedicated to her “Praver,” “We parted but your portrait...” and “Valerik.” Letters Lopukhina had written to Lermontov were later destroyed by her elderly husband, N.F. Bakhmetev. Countess Yevdokiya Rostopchina (watercolor by P.F. Sokolov), was a well-known writer and poet. The young Lermontov was enamored with her, and they became close friends in 1841, shortly before Lermontov’s death. He dedicated to her the poem “I believe, under one star.” Emiliya Musina-Pushkina (watercolor by V.I. Gau) was the wife of a former Decembrist, Count Vasily Musin-Pushkin. Lermontov dedicated to her the poem “Musinoy-Pushkinoy.”

The Sail

A lonely sail, that white spot

Lost in the fog of the blue sea

What is the sailor’s secret plot?

Why would he want to flee?

The waves are high, the wind is strong

The mast bends and creaks

Alas! For happiness he does not long

Nor from it does he streak!

So bright, so limpid the sea below

The sun like gold, the wind so stiff...

But no, he asks the wind to blow,

As if a storm could bring relief!

(1832)