The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The Tenth Commandment



Don't covet goods of other beings --

My Goodness, You've commanded so;

The limits of my will You know --

Am I to manage tender feelings?!

I wish not to offend my friend,

His village I do not desire,

And for his steer I don't aspire,

I'm gazing at it with content:

His men, his house and his cattle,

I'm tempted not, though all is great.

But let's imagine that his maid

Is beautiful... I've lost the battle!

And if by chance his lady's pretty

And gifted with an angel's skin

Then God forgive me for my sin

Of being envious and greedy!

Who can command a heart like this?

Who is a slave to feeble effort?

Not love a person who is revered?--

Who can resist the heaven's bliss?

I sigh from sadness and perceive,

But I must honor my conviction,

Afraid to flatter heart's ambition,

I'm silent... and alone I grieve.

To ***



I still remember that amazing moment

You have appeared before my sight

As though a brief and fleeting omen,

Pure phantom in enchanting light.



Locked in depression's hopeless captive,

In haste of clamorous processions,

I heard your voice-- soft and attractive.

And dreamt of your beloved expressions.



Time passed. In gusts, rebellious and active,

A tempest scattered my affections

And I forgot your voice attractive,

Your sacred and divine expressions.



Detained in darkness, isolation,

My days would slowly drag in strife.

With lack of faith and inspiration,

With lack of tears, and love and life.



My soul attained its waking moment:

You re-appeared before my sight,

As though a brief and fleeting omen,

Pure phantom in enchanting light.



And now, my heart, in fascination

Beats rapidly and finds revived:

Devout faith and inspiration,

And tender tears and love and life.

I loved you; and perhaps I love you still,

The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet

It burns so quietly within my soul,

No longer should you feel distressed by it.

Silently and hopelessly I loved you,

At times too jealous and at times too shy.

God grant you find another who will love you

As tenderly and truthfully as I.

I love you-- though I rage at it,

Though it is shame and toil misguided,

And to my folly self-derided

Here at your feet I will admit!

It ill befits my years, my station,

Good sense has long been overdue!

And yet, by every indication,

Love's plague has stricken me anew:

You're out of sight-- I fall to yawning;

You're here-- I suffer and feel blue,

And barely keep myself from owning,

Dear elf, how much I care for you!

Why, when your guileless girlish chatter

Drifts from next door, your airy tread,

Your rustling dress, my senses scatter

And I completely lose my head.

You smile-- I flush with exaltation;

You turn away-- I'm plunged in gloom;

Your pallid hand is compensation

For a whole day of fancied doom.

When to the frame with artless motion

You bend to cross-stitch, all devotion,

Your eyes and ringlets down-beguiled,

My heart goes out in mute emotion

Rejoicing in you like a child!

Dare I confess to you my sighing,

How jealously I chafe and balk

When you set forth, at times defying

Bad weather, on a lengthy walk?

And then your solitary crying,

Those twosome whispers out of sight,

Your carriage to Opochka plying,

And the piano late at night...

Aline! I ask but to be pitied,

I do not dare to plead for love;

Love, for the sins I have committed,

I am perhaps not worthy of.

But make believe! Your gaze, dear elf,

Is fit to conjure with, believe me!

Ah, it is easy to deceive me!. . .

I long to be deceived myself!

O Muse of satire, breathing fire!

Oh, come and heed my urgent call!

I do not need the thundering lyre,

Hand me the scourge of Juvenal!

Not the pedestrian imitators,

Not the penurious translators,

Nor rhymesters echoless, poor lambs,

Shall fester from my epigrams!

Peace to the poet wan with hunger,

Peace to the journals' gossipmonger.

Peace unto every harmless fool!

But as for you, my scoundrels cool,

Come forward! I shall surely hook one,

Hook all you scum with piercing pen,

And if by chance I overlook one,

Please do remind me, gentlemen!

Ah, mugs with sallow slander horrid,

Ah, forehead after brazen forehead,

All due from my avenging hand

The ineradicable brand!