Ode to Liberty
By Alexander Pushkin
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original Russian
Listless Cytherean princess1, sing
No more! Begone out of my view!
But you, great scourge of prince and king,
Proud Muse of Freedom, where are you?
Come now, and rip my garland down,
And crush this coddled lyre. Let me
Sing to the world of Liberty
And strike the scum that wears a crown!
Reveal to me the noble path
Where that exalted Gaul2 once strode,
When you in storied days of wrath
Inspired in him a dauntless Ode.
Now, flighty Fortune's favored knaves,
Tremble, O Tyrants of the Earth!
But you: take heed now, know your worth
And rise as men, O fallen slaves!
Wherever I cast my gaze, I see
A body flayed, an ankle chained,
The useless tears of Slavery,
The Law perverted and profaned.
Yea, everywhere iniquitous
Power in the fog of superstition
Ascends: Vainglory's fateful passion,
And Serfdom's gruesome genius.
Heavy on every sovereign head
There lies a People's misery,
Save where the mighty Law is wed
Firmly with holy Liberty,
Where their hard shield is spread for all,
Where in a Nation's faithful hand
Among mere equals in the land
The sword can equitably fall3
To smite transgression from on high
With one blow, righteously severe
In fingers uncorrupted by
Ravenous avarice or fear.
O rulers, you are crowned by will
Of Law, not Nature’s dispensation.
High though you stand above the nation,
Eternal Law stands higher still.
But woe betide that race, today,
Where it is blithely slumbering,
Where Law itself is held in sway
By any People, any King.
Here is the Man: witness he bears
To his forebears’ infamous error
And in the storm of recent Terror
Laid down kingly neck for theirs.
King Louis to his death ascends4
In sight of hushed posterity,
His crownless, beaten head he bends:
Blood for the block of perfidy.
The Law is mute, the People too.
And down the criminal axe-blade flies
And lo! A ghastly purple5 lies
Upon a Gaul enslaved anew.
You autocratic psychopath,6
You and your throne do I despise!
I watch your doom, your children's death
With cruel and jubilating eyes.
Upon your forehead they descry
The People’s mark of true damnation.
Stain of the world, shame of creation,
Reproach on earth to God on high!
When on the dark Neva the star
Of midnight makes the water gleam,
When carefree eyelids near and far
Are overwhelmed with peaceful dream,
The poet, roused with intellect,
Sees the lone tyrant's statue loom
Grimly asleep amid the gloom,
The palace now a derelict,7
And Clio's8 awesome call he hears
Behind those awesome walls of power.
Vivid before his sight appears
The foul Caligula's last hour.
In stars and ribbons he espies
Assassins drunk with wine and spite
Approaching, furtive in the night
With wolfish hearts and brazen eyes.
And silent stands the faithless guard,
The drawbridge downed without alarm,
The gate in dark of night unbarred
By treason’s mercenary arm.
O shame! O terror of our time!
Those Janissary beasts burst in9
And slash, the Criminal Sovereign
Is slaughtered by unholy crime.
Henceforward, Leaders, learn ye well:
No punishment, no accolade,
No altar and no dungeon cell
Can be your steadfast barricade.
Be first to bow your own heads down
Beneath Law's trusty canopy,
That Peoples' life and liberty
Forevermore may guard your crown.
普希金
去吧，从我的眼前滚开，
柔弱的西色拉岛的皇后！
你在哪里？对帝王的惊雷，
啊，你骄傲的自由底歌手？
来吧，把我的桂冠扯去，
把娇弱无力的竖琴打破......
我要给世人歌唱自由，
我要打击皇位上的罪恶。
请给我指出那个辉煌的
高卢人的高贵的足迹，
你使他唱出勇敢的赞歌，
面对光荣的苦难而不惧。
战栗吧！世间的专制暴君，
无常的命运暂时的宠幸！
而你们，匍匐着的奴隶，
听啊，振奋起来，觉醒！
唉，无论我向哪里望去——
到处是皮鞭，到处是铁掌，
对于法理的致命的侮辱，
奴隶软弱的泪水汪洋；
到处都是不义的权力
在偏见的浓密的幽暗中
登了位——靠奴役的天才，
和对光荣的害人的热情。
要想看到帝王的头上
没有人民的痛苦压积，
那只有当神圣的自由
和强大的法理结合在一起；
只有当法理以坚强的盾
保护一切人，它的利剑
被忠实的公民的手紧握，
挥过平等的头上，毫无情面。
只有当正义的手把罪恶
从它的高位向下挥击，
这只手啊，它不肯为了贪婪
或者畏惧，而稍稍姑息。
当权者啊！是法理，不是上天
给了你们冠冕和皇位，
你们虽然高居于人民之上，
但该受永恒的法理支配。
啊，不幸，那是民族的不幸，
若是让法理不慎地瞌睡；
若是无论人民或帝王
能把法理玩弄于股掌内！
关于这，我要请你作证，
哦，显赫的过错的殉难者，
在不久以前的风暴里，
你帝王的头为祖先而跌落。
在无言的后代的见证下，
路易昂扬地升向死亡，
他把黜免了皇冠的头
垂放在背信底血腥刑台上；
法理沉默了——人们沉默了，
罪恶的斧头降落了......
于是，在带枷锁的高卢人身上
覆下了恶徒的紫袍。
我憎恨你和你的皇座，
专制的暴君和魔王！
我带着残忍的高兴看着
你的覆灭，你子孙的死亡。
人人会在你的额上
读到人民的诅咒的印记，
你是世上对神的责备，
自然的耻辱，人间的瘟疫。
当午夜的天空的星星
在幽暗的涅瓦河上闪烁，
而无忧的头被平和的梦
压得沉重，静静地睡着，
沉思的歌者却在凝视
一个暴君的荒芜的遗迹，
一个久已弃置的宫殿
在雾色里狰狞地安息。
他还听见，在可怕的宫墙后，
克里奥的令人心悸的宣判，
卡里古拉的临终的一刻
在他眼前清晰地呈现。
他还看见：披着肩绶和勋章，
一群诡秘的刨子手走过去，
被酒和恶意灌得醉醺醺，
满脸是骄横，心里是恐惧。
不忠的警卫沉默不语，
高悬的吊桥静静落下来，
在幽暗的夜里，两扇宫门
被收买的内奸悄悄打开......
噢，可耻！我们时代的暴行！
像野兽，欢跃着土耳其士兵！......
不荣耀的一击降落了......
戴王冠的恶徒死于非命。
接受这个教训吧，帝王们：
今天，无论是刑罚，是褒奖，
是血腥的囚牢，还是神坛，
全不能作你们真正的屏障；
请在法理可靠的荫蔽下
首先把你们的头低垂，
如是，人民的自由和安宁
才是皇座的永远的守卫。
Pushkin
Go, go away from my eyes,
Weak salad Island Queen West!
Where are you? The thunder of the emperor,
Ah, you proud of the free end of singers?
Come, take my crown Chequ,
Inability of the delicate harp break ......
I want to give the world singing freedom
I want to fight evil on the throne.
Please give me point out that brilliant
Gallic noble footsteps,
You make him brave hymn sing,
Face of the suffering and fear glorious.
Trembling it! The world's tyrants,
Uncertain fate of the temporary darling!
And you, creepy slave,
Listen ah, boost up, wake up!
Well, no matter where I looked to -
Full of whips, full of black street,
For the legal deadly insult,
Ocean of tears, weak slave;
The power of injustice everywhere
In the thick gloom of prejudice
Board a bit - by the genius of slavery,
And harmful to the glorious passion.
To see the emperor's head
Without the people's suffering hematocrit,
It is only when the divine freedom
And powerful combination of legal;
Only when a strong legal shield to
Protection of all people, it's sword
Be loyal citizens of the hand grip,
Equal command over his head, no feelings.
Only when the evil hand of justice
Down from its high of swing,
This hand ah, it refused to greed
Or fear, but a little leniency.
Authorities ah! Is the law, not God
Gave you the crown and throne,
While high above the people you living in,
However, the legal control by the eternal.
Ah, unfortunately, that is a national misfortune,
If so legal inadvertently doze;
If either the people or the emperor
Can within the legal juggling!
In this regard, I must ask you to testify,
Oh, illustrious martyrs of the fault,
Storm in the recent past, the
You head for the imperial ancestors and fall.
In the silent witness of future generations,
Luyi Ang Yang to rise to the death,
He dismiss the head of the crown
Down on the bloody criminal breach of trust at the end of the stage;
Legal silence - the silence of the people,
Sin ax landed ......
Thus, in the body with the yoke of the Gauls
Under the villain of the purple cover.
I hate you and your throne,
Autocratic tyrant and devil!
I watched with cruel pleasure
Your destruction, the death of your children and grandchildren.
Everyone will be on your forehead
Read people's curse mark,
You blame the world for God,
Nature of shame, human plague.
When the midnight sky of stars
Flashes on the Neva in the dark,
The first worry was peaceful dreams
The weight of heavy, quietly asleep,
The song is contemplative gaze
A tyrant of the deserted ruins,
A long-abandoned palace
In the fog color in grim repose.
He also heard the terrible after a wall,
Creo daunting sentence,
Caligula's death, the moment
Clearly showing in his eyes.
He also saw: wore shoulder ribbon and medal,
A group of secretive hand plane went over,
Irrigation was too drunk wine and malicious,
Face is arrogant, and my heart is fear.
Unfaithful guards remain silent
The suspension bridge hanging quietly falling,
In the dark of night, two palace
To be bribed traitor quietly opened ......
Oh, shame! The atrocities of our time!
Beasts, Viiv the Turkish soldiers! ......
Not the glory of a blow landed ......
Wear the crown of the bad guys died.
Right to accept the lesson, the emperor who:
Today, whether the penalty is the praise,
Bloody prison, or altar,
All you really can not be a barrier;
Reliable in the shade under the legal
First, put your head falls,
If so, the freedom and peace
Is the throne of the eternal guard.
