I still recall the wondrous moment <br />When you appeared before my eyes, <br />Just like a fleeting apparition, <br />Just like pure beauty's distillation. <br /> <br />When'er I languished in the throes of hopeless grief <br />Amid the troubles of life's vanity, <br />Your sweet voice lingered on in me, <br />Your dear face came to me in dreams. <br /> <br />Years passed. The raging, gusty storms <br />Dispersed my former reveries, <br />And I forgot your tender voice, <br />Your features so divine. <br /> <br />In exile, in confinement's gloom, <br />My uneventful days wore on, <br />Bereft of awe and inspiration <br />Bereft of tears, of life, of love. <br /> <br />My soul awakened once again: <br />And once again you came to me, <br />Just like a fleeting apparition <br />Just like pure beauty's distillation. <br /> <br />My heart again resounds in rapture, <br />Within it once again arise <br />Feelings of awe and inspiration, <br />Of life itself, of tears, and love.<br /><br />Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-kern/
