В темном аде, под [землею],
Тени грешные томятся;
Стонут девы, плачут жены,
И тоскуют, и крушатся...
Всё о том, что не доходят
Вести в адские пределы -2
Есть ли небо голубое?
Есть ли свет ещё там белый?
[И на]3 свете -- церкви божьи
И иконы золотые,
И как прежде, за станками,
Ткут ли девы молодые?

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¹ Tchaikovsky: "zemlej"
² Tchaikovsky adds the line: "Zheny plachut, stonut: "
³ Tchaikovsky: "Jest' li v"

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

• by Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (1821 - 1897), no title, written 1860, appears in Новогреческие песни (Novogrecheskije pesni), no. 30 [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 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Новогреческая песня", op. 16 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Lyle Neff) , "Neo-Greek Song", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (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: 55