| Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921. | | | | Verses Written During a Sleepless Night | | By Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) |
| | | SLEEP I cannot find, nor light: | |
| Everywhere is dark and slumber, | |
| Only weary tickings number | |
| The slow hours of the night. | |
| Parca, jabbering, woman-fashion, | 5 |
| Sleeping night, without compassion, | |
| Life, who stirs like rustling mice, | |
| Why encage me in thy vise? | |
| Why the whispering insistence,— | |
| Art thou but the pale persistence | 10 |
| Of a day departed twice? | |
| What black failures dost thou reckon? | |
| Dost thou prophesy or beckon? | |
| I would know whence thou art sprung, | |
| I would study thy dark tongue… | 15 | | | |
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