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 JOHN WOODSWORTH

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Three international conferences in Russia celebrating the 175th anniversary
of Tolstoy's birth
28 August -- 5 September 2003

This poem was written on Sunday, 31 August 2003, while sitting beneath  Ivan Turgenev's favourite oak tree at Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, the family estate of the famous Russian writer

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Note: The Russian words on these pages appear in photo-images and not electronic text.

At Spasskoe-Lutovinovo

John Woodsworth

[Original in Russian, written while seated at Russian writer Ivan Turgenev's favourite oak tree on his family estate, August 2003]

 

To walk through the quiet allées of Turgenev's
  museum-estate is most pleasant,
Where each moment one feels one's self wedded
  to nature with a joyful solemnity present.
The Spasskoe-Lutovinovo* park is all criss-crossed
  by paths with green arcs at their junctures,
And I now see the trees and the gardens and flowers
  which I knew before only from pictures.

At one time Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
  himself walked these paths so enlightening.
'Neath his favourite tall trees he would spend many days
  sitting: reading, composing and writing.
Today I am sitting and writing these lines
  'neath the shade of an oak -- at the edges --
Which Turgenev once planted himself on this spot
  near a pond all surrounded by hedges.

In the past more than once the Turgenev park served
  as a venue for popular dances,
With gay ribbons and nuts and their prianiks so tasty
  the peasants sang songs and romances.
Turgenev invited his actress friend Savina**
  to join in the festive occasions.
And during these good years the peasants and landowners
  kept up their peaceful relations.

While sitting and watching I can't help but think
  of what underlies all these fine shadows,
Of the thoughts represented by such pleasant views
  of the ponds and the trees and the meadows,
Of that which the heart can but truly perceive
  in a vision of spiritual creation,
Of that which bestows not from soil but from heaven
  our true everlasting salvation.

 

Translated from the Russian by John Woodsworth
14 September 2003

*The word Spasskoe is related to the Russian words for "Saviour" and "salvation".  Lutovinovo is taken from the family name of Turgenev's mother.

**Marija Gavrilovna Savina, who often performed leading roles in the staging of Turgenev's dramatic works.

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