by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841)
Translation by Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi (1863 - 1943)
Ветка палестины
Language: Russian (Русский)
Скажи мне, ветка Палестины: Где ты росла, где ты цвела, Каких холмов, какой долины Ты украшением была? У вод ли чистых Иордана Востока луч тебя ласкал, Ночной ли ветр в горах Ливана Тебя сердито колыхал? Молитву ль тихую читали, Иль пели песни старины, Когда листы твои сплетали Солима бедные сыны? И пальма та жива ль поныне? Все так же ль манит в летний зной Она прохожего в пустыне Широколиственной главой? Или в разлуке безотрадной Она увяла, как и ты, И дольний прах ложится жадно На пожелтевшие листы?.. Поведай: набожной рукою Кто в этот край тебя занес? Грустил он часто над тобою? Хранишь ты след горючих слез? Иль, божьей рати лучший войн, Он был с безоблачным челом, Как ты, всегда небес достойн Перед людьми и божеством?.. Заботой тайною хранима Перед иконой золотой, Стоишь ты, ветвь Ерусалима, Святыни верный часовой! Прозрачный сумрак, луч лампады, Кивот и крест, символ святой... Всё полно мира и отрады Вокруг тебя и над тобой.
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Note on TransliterationsAuthorship:
- by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Ветка палестины", first published 1837 [author's text not yet checked 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 Elena Aleksandrovna Bekman-Shcherbina (1882 - 1951), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anatoly Isaakovich Kankarovich (1885 - 1956), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kasyanov (1891 - 1982), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pavel Semyonovich Makarov (1841 - 1891), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergey Yevgenevich Novikov (d. 1944), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), "Ветка палестины" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Yury Petrovich Suldin (b. 1987), "Ветка Палестины" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Ветка палестины", VWV 1065 (<<1866) [ voice and piano ], from Douze Mélodies sur les Poésies Russes, no. 10, Éd. E. Gérard & Cie., anciennement Meissonnier, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Louis Pomey (1835 - 1901) ; composed by Pauline Viardot-García.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "The palm branch of Palestine", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 157
The palm branch of Palestine
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский)
Palm branch of Palestine, oh tell me, In that far distant home-land fair, Wast rooted in the mountain gravel Or sprung from some vale garden rare? Once o'er the Jordan's silver billows Fond kissed with thee the Eastern sun? Have the grim gales 'neath starry heavens Swept over thee from Lebanon? And was a trembling prayer soft whispered, A father's song sung over thee -- When from the parent stem dis-severed By some poor aborigine? And is the palm tree ever standing, Amid the fierce glare beating down, The pilgrim in the desert luring To shelter 'neath her shadow crown? Perhaps the leaves ancestral shiver In unappeased parting pain, The branch conceals a homesick longing For desert wilderness again? Was it a pilgrim who first brought thee To the cold North, with pious hand? Who mused upon his home in sadness, And dost thou bear his tear's hot brand? Was it Jehovah's favored warrior, His gleaming head transfigured bright, For God and man true-sworn, devoted Unto the victory of light? Before the wonder-working image Thou stand'st as heaven's defence divine, O branch from out that holy country, The sanctuary's shield and sign! It darkens, golden lamp light splendors Enveil the cross, the sacred shrine -- The peace of God is wafted o'er us From thee, oh branch of Palestine!
Authorship:
- by Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi (1863 - 1943), "The palm branch of Palestine", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Russian (Русский) by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Ветка палестины", first published 1837
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-02-02
Line count: 36
Word count: 217