Exegis Momentum Pushkin
Channel: Roger Lewis
Date: 2021-06-23

Exegi Monumentum
By A.S. Pushkin
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.”
-Mark 14:58

I’ve reared a monument not built by human hands.
The public path to it cannot be overgrown.
With insubmissive head far loftier it stands
Than Alexander’s columned stone.

No, I shall not all die. My soul in hallowed berth
Of art shall brave decay and from my dust take wing,
And I shall be renowned while on this mortal earth
A single poet lives to sing.

Tidings of me shall spread through all the realm of Rus
And every tribe in Her shall name me as they speak:
The haughty western Pole, the east’s untamed Tungus,
North Finns and the south steppe’s Kalmyk.

And long shall I a man dear to the people be
For how my lyre once quickened kindly sentiment,
I in a tyrant age who sang of liberty,
And mercy toward fallen men.

To God and his commands pay Thou good heed, O Muse.
To praise and slander both be nonchalant and cool.
Demand no laureate’s wreath, think nothing of abuse,
And never argue with a fool.
http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2013/10/pushkin-exegi-monumentum-from-russian.html