Fedor Sologub

His wines, feasts and funs are forgotten,
His sword and his armour are left,
He, single, descends into rotten
A dungeon, without a lamp.

With a shrill and continued sound, 
The door – all forgot it – is rolled:
Just dampness and darkness around,
And the window’s set high and small. 

His eyes grow used to the darkness,
And through humid gloom under vaults,
Strange marks dawn on stony vastness,
Of selling, wet floor, and wet walls. 

He looks for a long time at networks
Of the marks, such unknown, and waits,
When his eyes, like eyes of all sinners,
Will be well enlightened by death.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, January, 2001