by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842)
Translation Singable translation possibly by Constance Bache (1846 - 1903) and possibly by William Stigand, né Stigant (1825 - 1915)

When I see thee draw near
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
When I see thee draw near, when I gaze on thy face,
What a light in my soul doth all dark visions chase!
When thou raisest thine eyes, oh, I faint with sweet pain,
Without sense, without tongue, before thee I remain,
When thy look lights on me, all my thought dies away,
Not a word can I find when thou biddest "goodday."
For a smile and the words, oh, the words "I am thine,"
I believe speech of man could no answer divine;
Oh, 'tis life thus to look, as I'm looking at thee!
May this hour as it is be eternal for me!

Note: from a Rubinstein score. It is unclear which of the two translators listed on the front page wrote this particular translation.

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Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson

This text was added to the website: 2008-04-28
Line count: 10
Word count: 105