Alexander Pushkin
Echo

If beasts within a silent forest moan,
if trumpets sound, if thunder rolls and cracks,
Or young girls sing almost inaudibly
For each initial tone
The atmosphere resounds quite suddenly
With a response, your own.

You listen to the peal of distant thunder,
The rumbling voice of violent waves and storm,
And hear the village shepherd's lonely cry —
And then you send your answer,
But hear no echo, there is no reply...
This also, poet, is your nature.

Translated by Michael Mesic