THE great Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) is being celebrated this year.
His Scottish ancestry makes After Lermontov, translations in Scots and English for his bicentenary (Carcanet, £12.95) particularly appealing. Here are two snippets from the book.
OSSIAN'S GRAVE
In the Highlands of Scotland I love,
Storm clouds curve down on the dark fields and strands,
With icy grey mist closing in from above -
Here Ossian's grave still stands.
In dreams my heart races to be there,
To deeply breathe in its native air -
And from this long-forgotten shrine
Take its second life as mine
translated by Alan Riach
I DON'T LOVE YOU
I don't love you; the fevered dream
Of lust and longing's run its course.
Your image in my soul still seems
Alive, but it has lost its force.
I can't forget, hard though I worked
At other loves. It's not so odd:
The abandoned kirk is still a kirk,
The fallen idol - still a god!
translated by Peter McCarey
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