Lermontov: Sail (From Russian)

Sail
By Mikhail Lermontov
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the Russian

A sail gleams white and on its own
Amid the light blue ocean haze.
What does it seek in distant country?
What made it leave its native bays?

The billows play. The winds are whistling
Down at the bending, creaking mast
Oh! This one seeks no happy ending
And does not flee a happy past.

Below, a brighter stream than azure.
Above, the golden sunray flows,
Yet this one, restive, quests for tempests
As if in tempests were repose.

Special thanks to: Robert Chandler, Boris Dralyuk and Irina Mashinsky for nudging me into nudging the last stanza into shape. 

The Original:

Парус
Михаил Юрьевич Лермонтов

Бѣлѣетъ парусъ одинокой

Въ туманѣ моря голубомъ…

Что ищетъ онъ въ странѣ далекой?

Что кинулъ онъ въ краю родномъ?

Играютъ волны, вѣтеръ свищетъ,

И мачта гнется и скрипитъ…

Увы! онъ счастія не ищетъ,

И не отъ счастія бѣжитъ!

Подъ нимъ струя свѣтлѣй лазури,

Надъ нимъ лучъ солнца золотой;

А онъ, мятежный, проситъ бури,

Какъ будто въ буряхъ есть покой!