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by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841)
Translation © by John Montanus

С тех пор как вечный судия
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  ENG
С тех пор как вечный судия
Мне дал всеведенье пророка,
В очах людей читаю я
Страницы злобы и порока.

Провозглашать я стал любви
И правды чистые ученья:
В меня все ближние мои
Бросали бешено каменья.

Посыпал пеплом я главу,
Из городов бежал я нищий,
И вот в пустыне я живу,
Как птицы, даром божьей пищи;

Завет предвечного храня,
Мне тварь покорна там земная;
И звёзды слушают меня,
Лучами радостно играя.

Когда же через шумный град
Я пробираюсь торопливо,
То старцы детям говорят
С улыбкою самолюбивой:

«Смотрите: вот пример для вас!
Он горд был, не ужился с нами.
Глупец, хотел уверить нас,
Что Бог гласит его устами!

Смотрите ж, дети, на него:
Как он угрюм и худ и бледен!
Смотрите, как он наг и беден,
Как презирают все его!»

About the headline (FAQ)

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Пророк" [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 Sergey Vasilyevich Aksyuk (1901 - 1994), "Пророк" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "С тех пор, как вечный судия", op. 55 (Восемь романсов = Vosem' romansov (Eight romances)) no. 8, published 1897 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Vladimir Mitrofanovich Ivanov-Korsunsky (1891 - 1942), "Пророк" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kasyanov (1891 - 1982), "Пророк" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Sergey Aleksandrovich Trailin (1872 - 1951), "Пророк" [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (John Montanus) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-14
Line count: 28
Word count: 128

Since the time that the eternal Judge
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
Since the time that the eternal Judge
Gave me the omniscience of a prophet,
In people’s eyes I read
The pages of malice and vice.

I began to proclaim Love
And Truth’s pure teachings:
All my neighbors
Furiously threw stones at me.

I sprinkled my head with ashes
And fled from the towns, a beggar,
And now in the desert I live,
Like a bird, by God’s gift of food.

Keeping the precepts of my prophecies,
The earthly creatures there are submissive to me,
And the stars listen to me,
Their beams playing about with joy.

But when through the noisy town
I hastily force my way,
Then the old men say to the children
With a self-satisfied smile:

“Look: there’s an example for you!
He was proud, couldn’t put up with us.
The fool, he wanted us to believe
That God spoke with his lips!

Look well at him, children:
How gloomy he is, and thin and pale!
Look, how naked and poor,
How everyone despises him!”

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Пророк" = "The prophet"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2017 by John Montanus, (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 Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Пророк"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-06-03
Line count: 28
Word count: 168

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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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