Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina del 8 kap. 19 (1877) v/ EKS efter C. Garnett, Gutenberg.org
Levin gik ud af børneværelset og var igen alene. Øjeblikkeligt vendte han tilbage til en tanke, i hvilken der var noget uklart.
I stedet for at gå ind i dagligstuen, hvorfra han hørte stemmer, gik han ud på terrassen, støttede albuerne mod rækværket og stirrede ind i himlen.
Det var næsten mørkt nu, og mod syd var himlen skyfri. Tordenvejret var drevet i modsat retning; der kom stadig glimt af lyn og en fjern torden derfra. Levin lyttede til den monotone dryppen fra citronbuskene i haven og kiggede på den velkendte trekant af stjerner og Mælkevejens grene, som løb gennem dens midte. Ved hvert lynglimt forsvandt Mækevejen og selv de klareste stjerner, men så snart glimtet forsvandt, dukkede de frem igen, som om en hånd omhyggeligt havde kastet dem tilbage på deres pladser. (...)
Going out of the nursery and being again alone, Levin went back at once to the thought, in which there was something not clear.
Instead of going into the drawing-room, where he heard voices, he stopped on the terrace, and leaning his elbows on the parapet, he gazed up at the sky.
It was quite dark now, and in the south, where he was looking, there were no clouds. The storm had drifted on to the opposite side of the sky, and there were flashes of lightning and distant thunder from that quarter. Levin listened to the monotonous drip from the lime trees in the garden, and looked at the triangle of stars he knew so well, and the Milky Way with its branches that ran through its midst. At each flash of lightning the Milky Way, and even the bright stars, vanished, but as soon as the lightning died away, they reappeared in their places as though some hand had flung them back with careful aim.
