by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)
Mutability
Language: English
We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly! -- yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever: Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings Give various response to each varying blast, To whose frail frame no second motion brings One mood or modulation like the last. We rest. -- A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise. -- One wandering thought pollutes the day; We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away: It is the same! -- For, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free: Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but Mutability.
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Mutability", first published 1816 [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 Dorothy James (1901 - ?), "Mutability", 1967 [ women's chorus, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Clouds that veil the midnight moon", published 1971 [ SSA chorus and piano ], stanza 1 of "Mutability" is followed by a stanza by the composer.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Změna (Shelley 1)"
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont) , "Изменчивость"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-02-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 125
Změna (Shelley 1)
Language: Czech (Čeština) after the English
Jak mraky jsme přes měsíc hnány v let; jak spějí bez klidu, se chví a třpytí tmu jasem pruhujíce! — V tom však hned noc kolem, ony pro vždy v tmy se řítí; Jak lyry zapomněné, nesouzvuk jichž strun vždy v různém dechu jinak zní; jichž křehký stroj vždy jiný vydá zvuk při druhé ráně, než byl poslední. My spíme… Spánek otráven je snem… my vstanem… Bludnou dumou zkažen den cit, práce, smích, pláč ať nám údělem, ať zoufalství jsme, bezstarosti plen: To jedno jest! — Ať ples, ať chmura sterá, vždy v odchod cest jim kyne na tisíc; lidskému zítřku není rovno včera, zde mimo Změnu není stálé nic.
Confirmed with SHELLEY, P. B. Výbor lyriky, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1901, page 11.
Text Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Změna (Shelley 1)" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Mutability", first published 1816
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 page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-25
Line count: 16
Word count: 110