text:  The supposed soliloquy of the martyred poet which forms the principal portion of Pushkin's elegiac ode is little else than an amplification or pathetic and dignified paraphrase of the exquisite composition actually written by Chenier on the eve of his execution; a composition become classical in the French literature:-- "Comme un dernier rayon comme un dernier zephyr Anime le soir d'un beau jour Au pied de l'echafaud j'essaie encore ma lyre