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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Glikberg (1880 - 1932), as Sasha Chyorny
Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Потомки
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE LIT
Наши предки лезли в клети
И [шептались]1 там не раз:
"Туго, братцы...видно, дети
Будут жить вольготней нас".

Дети выросли. И эти
Лезли в клети в грозный час
И [вздыхали]2: "Наши дети
Встретят солнце после нас".

Нынче так же, как вовеки,
Утешение одно:
Наши дети будут в Мекке,
Если нам не суждено.

Даже сроки предсказали:
Кто - лет двести, кто - пятьсот,
А пока лежи в печали
И мычи, как идиот.

Разукрашенные дули,
Мир умыт, причёсан, мил...
Лет чрез двести? Чёрта в стуле!
Разве я Мафусаил?

Я, как филин, на обломках
Переломанных богов.
В неродившихся потомках
Нет мне братьев и врагов.

Я хочу немножко света
Для себя, пока я жив,
От портного до поэта -
Всем понятен мой призыв...

А потомки... Пусть потомки,
Исполняя жребий свой
И кляня свои потёмки,
Лупят в стенку головой!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   D. Shostakovich 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Shostakovich: "вздыхали" (vzdykhali)
2 Shostakovich: "шептали" (sheptali)

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Glikberg (1880 - 1932), as Sasha Chyorny, "Потомки" [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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Потомки", op. 109 no. 3 (1960), from Пять сатир = Pjat' satir, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English [singable] (Leonard Lehrman) , "Descendants", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les descendants", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Palikuonys", copyright © 2022, (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: 32
Word count: 132

Les descendants
Language: French (Français)  after the Russian (Русский) 
Nos ancêtres rampaient dans leurs cages
Et chuchotaient :
« C'est dur, chers frères...
Mais nos enfants vivront plus libres que nous. »

Les enfants ont grandi et ils rampent
Dans leurs cages en des temps horribles
Et ils chuchotent : « Nos enfants
Verront le soleil après nous. »

Maintenant aussi, comme toujours,
Il y a une consolation :
Nos enfants iront à la Mecque,
Même si ce n'est pas notre destin.

Des dates sont même prédites ;
L'un dit deux cents ans, l'autre cinq cents,
Pendant ce temps il nous reste à pleurer
Et à grogner comme des idiots.

Tout deviendra beau, le monde sera lavé,
Peigné, mon cher...
Dans deux cents ans ! Au diable !
Suis-je Mathusalem ?

Moi je suis, comme un hibou, sur des morceaux
D'idoles brisées.
Parmi des descendants qui ne sont pas nés,
Je n'ai ni ami ni ennemi.

Je veux seulement une petite lumière
Pour moi tant que je vis,
Du tailleur au poète
Tous comprennent mon appel...

Les descendants...
Qu'ils portent leur destin 
Et, maudissant leur obscurité,
Frappent leurs têtes contre le mur.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to French (Français) copyright © 2017 by Guy Laffaille, (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 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Glikberg (1880 - 1932), as Sasha Chyorny, "Потомки"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-01-30
Line count: 32
Word count: 176

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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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