Alexander Pushkin's “Scene from Faust” by Alan Shaw

Poems

April 2010

Alexander Pushkin's “Scene from Faust”

by Alan Shaw

Burke

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At the seaside. Faust and Mephistopheles.

FAUST

Demon, I’m bored.

MEPHISTOPHELES

What’s to be done,
Faust? Man’s not without limits, is he?
And to be bored, like it or not,
Is every rational being’s lot:
Some are too idle, some too busy,
Have too much or too little faith;
Some find no joy, while some are dizzy
With it, enjoying themselves to death.
You yawn your lives out, till you fall
Into the grave that yawns for all.
Why shouldn’t you yawn too?

...

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Alan Shaw recently finished translating Pushkin’s little tragedies, and is currently working on Boris Godunov.

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