THE MERMAID

By Mikhail Lermontov

Translated by Jonathan DePeri

Columbia University

 

1

 

A mermaid swam ‘long the river light blue,

All lit by the shining full moon;

And she tried to splash full up to the moon

The silvery foam of the blue.

 

2

 

And noisily whirling, the river made

The clouds on its surface sway;

And the mermaid sang — and the sound of her words

Flew up the steep banks far away.

 

3

 

And the mermaid sang: “On the floor beneath me

The daylight plays flick’ring far down;

There goldfish in schools disport merrily;

All crystal are city and town;

 

4

 

“And there, in the shade of the thickest reeds,

On my cushion of bright blazing sand,

Sleeps a knight, sad prey to the jealous waves —

Sleeps a knight from a foreign land.

 

 

 

 

5

 

“In the gloom of the night we love to comb

The curls of our silken locks,

On his brow and lips at the noonday hour —

We would kiss him ne’er but once.

 

6

 

“Yet my ardentest kisses — I know not wherefore —

He remains to them cold and still;

He sleeps - and yielding, inclined on my breast,

He nor breathes, nor whispers in sleep!…"

 

7

 

Thus the mermaid sang o'er the river deep blue,

Full of strange anguish yearning away;

And loudly rolling, the river made

The clouds on its surface sway.

 

Click here to see the poem in its original Russian.