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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)

The pale, the cold, and the moony smile
Language: English 
The pale, the cold, and the moony smile
Which the meteor beam of a starless night
Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle,
Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,
Is the flame of life so fickle and wan
That flits round our steps till their strength is gone.

O man! hold thee on in courage of soul
Through the stormy shades of thy wordly way,
And the billows of clouds that around thee roll
Shall sleep in the light of a wondrous day,
Where hell and heaven shall leave thee free
To the universe of destiny.

This world is the nurse of all we know,
This world is the mother of all we feel,
And the coming of death is a fearful blow
To a brain unencompass'd by nerves of steel:
When all that we know, or feel, or see,
Shall pass like an unreal mystery.

The secret things of the grave are there,
Where all but this frame must surely be,
Though the fine-wrought eye and the wondrous ear
No longer will live, to hear or to see
All that is great and all that is strange
In the boundless realm of unending change.

Who telleth a tale of unspeaking death?
Who lifteth the veil of what is to come?
Who painteth the shadows that are beneath
The wide-winding caves of the peopled tomb?
Or uniteth the hopes of what shall be
With the fears and the love for that which we see?

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   R. Vaughan Williams 

R. Vaughan Williams sets stanza 2

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "On death" [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 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "A song of courage", stanza 2 [ unison chorus and orchestra (or piano) ], from Six choral songs to be sung in time of war, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Na smrt"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-12-31
Line count: 30
Word count: 245

Na smrt
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the English 
Ten úsměv chladný, měsíčný a bledý,
jejž meteor v noc bezehvězdnou lije
na ostrov vzdálený, dřív než svit šedý
ustoupí světlu, které jitro sije;
toť plamen žití prchavý, jenž pílí
kol našich kroků, dokud je v nich síly.

Ó člověče! Svou zpevni sílu dvše
na zemské pouti skrze bouře stínů,
až vlny mraků, jež se valí hluše
kol tebe, usnou v čarného dne klínu,
až peklo, nebe vydá tebe v míru
a svobodného losu všehomíru.

Ten svět je kojná všeho, co tu víme,
ten svět je všeho, co cítíme, máti,
smrt strašnou ranou v lidský mozek hříme,
jenž nemá nervů z ocele, v mžik schvátí,
co víme, zříme, cítíme, vše zmizí
jak taj, jenž nemá skutečnosti, cizí.

Taj hrobu všecko objímá v své skrejši
jen vyjímaje lidský tvar, neb oko
byť nejbystřejší, ucho nejjemnější
dřív umře, nežli vnikne přehluboko
v tu velikost a podivnost všech tajů,
těch věčné změny bezmezných všech krajů.

Kdo vypoví báj němé smrti této?…
Kdo závoj s naší budoucnosti zvedne?
Kdo stíny vylíčí, jichž mračno seto
je v bludiště kob hrobů nedohledné?
Kdo naděj budoucnosti s láskou smíří
a s bázní všeho, co teď kol nás víří?

Confirmed with SHELLEY, P. B. Výbor lyriky, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1901, pages 12-13.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Na smrt" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "On death"
    • Go to the text page.

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: 30
Word count: 191

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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