THE POEM BOOK

FYODOR TYUTCHEV & MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
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FYODOR TYUTCHEV

After the Feast 

After the feast and the singing,

Carafes of wine drained dry,

Baskets of fruit tipped over,

Wine glasses half empty,

Party crowns all crumpled,

Only the incense burning

In the bright, now bare hall.

The feasting over, the stars

Rise to glow in the sky;

It's deep midnight.

Over the restless city,

The courtyards and houses,

The noisy streets

And dull red lights,

Over sleepless masses,

Over earth-bound chaos,

In the high, far off sky

Pure stars burn down

Into our mortal eyes

Their untarnished glow. 

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TPB'S NOTE: Fyodor Tyutchev, December 5, 1803 - July 27, 1873 Russian poet. Although his poems were scarcely published in his lifetime, he is now one of the most memorised and quoted of writers from the Romantic period of Russian literature.

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

I Seek Life in Death

I seek life in death,


health in sickness,


freedom in prison,


escape from entrapment 
and loyalty from the traitor.

But my fate - from which


I've never expected any good to come-


has joined forces with the heavens above to decree


that since I'm asking for the impossible


it won't even give me the possible.

IN THE SPANISH:

Busco en la muerte la vida

Busco en la muerte la vida,


salud en la enfermedad,


en la prisión libertad,


en lo cerrado salida
y en el traidor lealtad.


Pero mi suerte, de quien


jamás espero algún bien,


con el cielo ha estatuido,


que, pues lo imposible pido,


lo posible aún no me den.

English translation by Paul Archer. 

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TPB's notes: Miguel de Cervantes is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language.