No, that doesn't describe blogging.
I'm told by a native speaker of Russian that Shakespeare's sonnets are as beautiful in Russian as they are in English -- in particular, sonnet number 90. I wouldn't really know: I'm still shaky on the alphabet, and my vocabulary is pretty limited, too. But here it is, in the Marshak translation:
Уж если ты разлюбишь - так теперь,
Теперь, когда весь мир со мной в раздоре.
Будь самой горькой из моих потерь,
Но только не последней каплей горя!И если скорбь дано мне превозмочь,
Не наноси удара из засады.
Пусть бурная не разрешится ночь
Дождливым утром - утром без отрады.Оставь меня, но не в последний миг,
Когда от мелких бед я ослабею.
Оставь сейчас, чтоб сразу я постиг,
Что это горе всех невзгод больнее,Что нет невзгод, а есть одна беда -
Твоей любви лишиться навсегда.
Here's Shakespeare's English original:
Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now,
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an afterloss.
Ah, do not, when my heart hath scaped this sorrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquered woe;
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purposed overthrow.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,
When other petty griefs have done their spite,
But in the onset come: so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune's might;
And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,
Compared with loss of thee will not seem so.
As I say, I'm not really competent to judge. I report, you decide!
(I'll admit, I thought it'd be really cool to post something in Russian.)
Posted by Craig Ceely at January 23, 2005 01:49 AM