Eternally Shining

I have been wanting an anonymous place to share my thoughts, so I broke down and started a blog. The things that run through my mind are always related to one another, however, the thread that connects my thoughts is tenuous at best. Hence, the name of this blog as Meanderings. The address eternallyshining refers to the poem by Alexander Pushkin entitled Thoughts.

If I walk the noisy streets,
Or enter a many thronged church,
Or sit among the wild young generation,
I give way to my thoughts.
I say to myself: the years are fleeting,
And however many there seem to be,
We must all go under the eternal vault,
And someone's hour is already at hand.

When I look at a solitary oak
I think: the patriarch of the woods.
It will outlive my forgotten age
As it outlived that of my grandfathers'.

If I dandle a young infant,
Immediately I think: farewell!
I will yield my place to you,
For I must fade while your flower blooms.
Each day, and every hour
I habitually follow in my thoughts,
Trying to guess from their number
The year which brings my death.

And where will fate send death to me?
In battle, in my travels, or on the seas?
Or will the neighbouring valley
Receive my chilled ashes?

And although to the senseless body
It is indifferent wherever it rots,
Yet close to my beloved countryside
I still would prefer to rest.

And let it be, beside the grave's vault
That young life forever will be playing,
And impartial, indifferent nature
Eternally be shining in beauty.

The translation of this poem is from www.pushkins-poems.com which I totally recommend for those that love Russia, poetry, or Pushkin (preferably all three).