Epigraph
When from dark error’s subjugationMy words of passionate exhortationHad wrenched thy fainting spirit free;And writhing prone in thine afflictionThou didst recall with maledictionThe vice that had encompassed thee:And when thy slumbering conscience, frettingBy recollection’s torturing flame,Thou didst reveal the hideous settingOf thy life’s current ere I came:When suddenly I saw thee sicken,And weeping, hide thine anguished face,Revolted, maddened, horror-stricken,At memories of foul disgrace.NEKRASSOV (translated by Juliet Soskice).