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