Fyodor Sologub (Pseudonym of Fyodor Teternikov) (b. 1863)

WHEN, heaving on the stormy waters,

I felt my ship begin to sink,

I prayed, “Oh, Father Satan, save me,

Forgive me at death’s utter brink!

“If you will save my soul embittered

From perishing before its hour,

The days to come, the nights that follow

I vow to vice, I pledge to power.”

The Devil forthwith snatched and flung me

Into a boat; the sides were frail,

But on the bench the oars were lying

And in the bow an old gray sail.

And landward once again I carried

My outcast soul, bereft of kin,

Upon its sickly vicious sojourn

My body and its gift of sin.

And I am faithful, Father Satan,

Unto my evil hour’s vow,

When from my drowning ship you saved me

And when I prayed you guide the prow.

To you descend my praises, Father,

No day from bitter blame exempt.

O’er worlds my blasphemy shall tower;

And I shall tempt—and I shall tempt.