Why? | Why did I dream of you

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by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Зачем?

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Зачем [ты мне]¹ приснилася,
Красавица далёкая,
И вспыхнула, что в полыме,
Подушка одинокая?

Ох, сгинь ты, полуночница!
Глаза твои ленивые
И пепел кос рассыпчатый,
И губы горделивые -

Всё наяву мне снилося,
И всё, что грёза вешняя,
Умчалося, -- и на сердце
Легла потьма кромешная!

Зачем же ты приснилася,
Красавица далёкая,
Коль стынет вместе с грёзою 
Полушка одинокая?

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• P. Tchaikovsky

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tchaikovsky: "же ты" (zhe ty)

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862), "Зачем?", written 1861 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov (1849 - 1927), "Зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Зачем?", op. 28 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 3 (1875) [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Why?", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Pourquoi ?", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 57

Why?

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Why did I dream of you,
Distant beauty,
And why, like a fire, did
My lonely pillow burst into flame?

О, begone, specter of the night!
Your eyes are shiftless
And your decimated ashes crumble easily,
And your lips are haughty -

Everything seemed real that I had dreamed,
And everything, like a superficial daydream,
Whirled away, — and my heart
Rested in the pitch dark!

Why did I dream of you,
Distant beauty,
When alone with my visions,
My lonely pillow grows cold.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862), "Зачем?", written 1861
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-10-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 83