The last breath | Kiss me/ My bosom is burning

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by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898)

Translation © by Aleksey Berg

Последний вздох

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

«Поцелуй меня...
Моя грудь в огне...
Я ещё люблю...
Наклонись ко мне.»
Так в прощальный час
Лепетал и гас
Тихий голос твой,
Словно тающий
В глубине души
Догорающей.
Я дышать не смел --
Я в лицо твоё,
Как мертвец, глядел --
Я склонил мой слух...
Но, увы! мой друг,
Твой последний вздох
Мне любви твоей
Досказать не мог.
И не знаю я,
Чём развяжется
Эта жизнь моя!
Где доскажется
Мне любовь твоя!

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), "Последний вздох", first published 1864 [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 Grigory Aleksandrovich Kushelev-Bezborodko (1832 - 1870), "Последний вздох" [sung text not yet checked]
by Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856 - 1915), "Последний вздох", op. 34 (7 Стихотворений (7 Stikhotvorenij) = 7 Poems) no. 5 (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) , "The last breath", 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: 23
Word count: 70

The last breath

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

“Kiss me
My bosom is burning,
I still love..
Lean over to me.”
Thus, in the parting hour,
Now babbling, now silent,
Was your quiet voice,
As if it was melting,
in the depth of the soul,
of your expiring soul.
I dared not to breathe,
Into your face,
Like a dead man, I stared--
I strained my ears,
But -- alas! my friend,
Your last breath
could not finish the tale,
of your love for me.
And I don’t know,
how my life
will end
Nor where I will ever hear the end of that tale,
of your love for me!

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819 - 1898), "Последний вздох", first published 1864
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-21
Line count: 23
Word count: 101