[Медлительно]1 влекутся дни мои,
И каждый миг в [унылом]2 сердце множит
Всё горести несчастливой любви            
[И все мечты безумия]3 тревожит.

Но я молчу; не слышен ропот мой;
Я слёзы лью; мне слёзы утешенье;
Моя душа, [плененная]4 тоской,
В них горькое находит наслажденье.

О жизни [час]5, лети, не жаль тебя,
Исчезни в тьме, пустое привиденье;
Мне дорого любви моей мученье;
Пускай умру, но пусть умру, любя!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Gaygerova, Nápravník: "Медленно"; further changes may exist not shown above.
² Cui: "увядшем" ("uvjadshem")
³ Cui: "И тяжкое безумие" ("I tjazhkoje bezumije")
⁴ Cui: "объятая" ("ob"jataja")
⁵ Cui: "сон" ("son")

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

• by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "Желание" [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 Evgenii Fedorovich Alenev (1864 - 1902), "Медлительно влекутся дни мои", op. 16 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], from 8 Стихотворений А. С. Пушкина, с сопровождением фортепиано (8 Stikhotvorenij A. S. Pushkina, s soprovozhdeniem fortepiano), no. 1, Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vladislav Frantsevich Aloiz (1860 - c1917), "Медлительно влекутся" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Feliks Mikhailovich Blumenfeld (1863 - 1931), "Желание", op. 30 no. 6, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Souvenir de Kozatskoé, no. 6, Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text not yet checked]
• by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Желание", op. 57 (Двадцать пять стихотворении Пушкина = Dvadcat' pjat' stikhotvorenii Pushkina (25 Poems of Pushkin)) no. 25 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Varvara Adrianovna Gaygerova (1903 - 1944), "Желание" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aleksandr Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865 - 1936), "Желание", op. 60 (Шесть романсов (Shest' romansov)) no. 2 (1898) [sung text not yet checked]
• by V. V. Gurdov , "Желание" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Isaak Isaakovich Kankarovich , "Желание" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aleksandr Borisovich Matyukhin (b. 1947), "Желание" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník (1839 - 1916), "Желание", op. 21 no. 2 (1875) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908), "Медлительно влекутся дни мои", op. 51 (5 романсов на слова Пушкина, с сопровождением фортепиано (5 romansov na slova Pushkina, s soprovozhdeniem fortepiano)) no. 1 (1897) [sung text not yet checked]

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

• ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (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: 12
Word count: 71

Slowly drag my days, 
Every moment amplifies in my withered heart
All woes of unrequited love
And agonizing madness troubles me.

But I am silent; my grumble is not heard;
I shed tears; tears are my consolation.
My soul, consumed by grief,
Finds bitter pleasure in tears.

Oh, illusion of life! Fly by, I don't value you, 
Vanish in darkness, meaningless ghost; 
I treasure the torment of my love, 
Let me die, but let me die being in love!