The Black Shawl poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation

As of senses bereft, at a black shawl I stare,

And my chill heart is tortured with deadly despair.

When dreaming too fondly in credulous youth,

I loved a Greek maiden with passion and truth.

My Greek girl was gentle and loving and fair;

But my joy quickly sank in a day of despair.

Once I feasted gay friends; ere the banquet was o’er

A Jew, the accursed, softly knocked at my door.

“Thou art laughing,” he whispered,”in pleasure’s mad whirl;

But she hath betrayed thee, thy young Grecian girl.”

I cursed him; but gold as a guerdon I gave,

And took as companion my trustiest slave.

My swift charger I mounted; at once we depart,

And the soft voice of pity was stilled in my heart.

The Greek maiden’s dwelling I hardly could mark,

For my limbs they grew faint, and my eyes they grew dark.

I silently entered-alone and amazed;

An Armenian was kissing the girl as I gazed.

I saw not the light; but I seized my good blade;

The betrayer ne’er finished the kiss that betrayed.

On his warm, headless body I trampled, then spurn’d,

And silent and pale to the maiden I turned.

I remember her prayers-in her blood how she strove;

Then perished my Greek girl-then perished my love.

I tore the black shawl from her head as she lay,

Wiped the blood-dripping weapon, and hurried away.

When the mists of the evening rose gloomy, my slave

Threw each corpse in the Danube’s dark fastrolling wave.

Since then no bewildering eyes can delight;

Since then I forbear festive banquets at night.

As of senses bereft, at a black shawl I stare,

And my chill heart is tortured with deadly despair.

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Poems in English 

• Sonnet VII. To Solitude poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet VI. To G. A. W. poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet V. To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To The Nile poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Spenser poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Sleep poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Mrs. Reynolds’s Cat poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To John Hamilton Reynolds poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Homer poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To George Keats: Written In Sickness poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Chatterton poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet To Byron poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. To A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. To A Lady Seen For A Few Moments At Vauxhall poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. The Human Seasons poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. The Day Is Gone poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. On The Sea poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet On Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. On Peace poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. On Leigh Hunt’s Poem ‘The Story of Rimini’ poem – John Keats poems by John Keats

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