As I was languishing amid the soft rustling of the wheat fields

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by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898)

Translation © by Aleksey Berg

Любя колосьев мягкий шорох

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

Любя колосьев мягкий шорох 
  И ясную лазурь,
Я не любил, любуясь нивой, 
  Ни тёмных туч, ни бурь.

Но налетела туча с градом, 
  Шумит-гремит во мгле;
И я с колосьями, как колос, 
  Прибит к сырой земле...

К сырой земле прибит -- и стыну, 
  Холодный и немой,
И уж не всё ль равно мне - солнце 
  Иль туча надо мной?!

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Text Authorship:

by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), no title, first published 1882 [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 Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856 - 1915), "Любя колосьев мягкий шорох", op. 34 (7 Стихотворений (7 Stikhotvorenij) = 7 Poems) no. 4 (1911-1912), published 1912 [ voice and piano ], Berlin: Russischer Musikverlag [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Aleksey Berg) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Berthold Feiwel)

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: 56

As I was languishing amid the soft...

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

As I was languishing amid the soft rustling of the wheat fields
And the azure of the sky;
I loved not, [while] delighting in the grain field,
either the dark clouds or the tempests.

But a storm cloud came with hail,
It rumbled – it thundered in the twilight;
And I, like an ear of wheat, now
Am nailed to the damp ground,

Am nailed to the damp ground – and am frozen,
Cold and numb.
And now, does it really matter whether it’s the sun
Or a cloud that hovers over me in the sky?

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Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2019 by Aleksey Berg, (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.
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Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), no title, first published 1882
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-21
Line count: 12
Word count: 96