Deep in the ore beds of Siberia
Preserve your self-respecting patience,
Not for nothing your hard labor
And your thought’s high aspirations.

Hope, who is misery’s faithful sister,
Down in the grimmest dungeon will
Arouse your spirits and your zeal.
The time will come that you have wished for.

Love and friendship will pass through
Into your dismal prison cells
Just as, in those bestial holes,
My voice, unfettered, reaches you.

Your heavy chains will fall apart,
The dungeon walls cave in — and freedom
At the gate will greet you gladly,
And brothers give you back your sword.
 
 
 
 

The Pushkin translation was originally used in  The Explorer’s Guide to
Russia  and then reprinted in Ferber’s European Romantic Poetry.