| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | Captive Knight | | By Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841) |
| | | SILENT I sit by the prison’s high window, | |
| Where through the bars the blue heavens are breaking. | |
| Flecks in the azure, the free birds are playing; | |
| Watching them fly there, my shamed heart is aching. | |
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| But on my sinful lips never a prayer, | 5 |
| Never a song in the praise of my charmer; | |
| All I recall are far fights and old battles, | |
| My heavy sword and my old iron armor. | |
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| Now in stone armor I hopelessly languish, | |
| And a stone helmet my hot head encases, | 10 |
| This shield is proof against arrows and sword-play, | |
| And without whip, without spur, my horse races. | |
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| Time is my horse, the swift-galloping charger, | |
| And for a visor this bleak prison grating, | |
| Walls of my prison are heavy stone armor; | 15 |
| Shielded by cast-iron doors, I am waiting. | |
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| Hurry, oh fast-flying Time, fly more quickly! | |
| In my new armor I faint, I am choking. | |
| I shall alight, with Death holding my stirrup, | |
| Then my cold face from this visor uncloaking. | 20 | | | |
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