Эпиграмма (Epigram) by Alexander Pushkin

Part Black Sea merchant, part milord,

a half-baked sage and halfwit fool,

a semi-scoundrel – but there’s hope

his scoundrelhood may soon be full.

 

by Александр Сергеевич Пушкин (Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin)

a.k.a. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin

(1824)

translated by Robert Chandler

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Fun fact: The subject of this epigram poem is Count Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856) the Governor General of ‘New Russia and of Bessarabia’, which consisted of most of southern Russia. Vorontsov was Pushkin’s boss during much of his southern exile.