Aleksandr Pushkin

High, o’er the family of tops, lead,
Kazbek, your royal dome’s spread, 
And shines with timeless beams around.
Your cloister, hidden behind clouds,
Like some ark of the heaven-land,
Glides, vaguely seen over the mounds.

Oh, distant and desired strand!
There, saying ‘farewell’ to the gorges,
To lift self to the free abode –
Into the cell o’er clouds, gorgeous,
Into the neighborhood of God!...  


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, July 11, 2004