Ne sprashivaj, zachem unyloj dumoj
Sredi zabav ja chasto omrachjon,
Zachem na vsjo pod"emlju vzor ugrjumyj,
Zachem ne mil mne sladkoj zhizni son;

Ne sprashivaj, zachem dushoj [ostyloj]1
Ja razljubil veseluju ljubov'
I nikogo ne nazyvaju miloj:
Kto raz ljubil, [uzh]2 ne poljubit vnov';

Kto schast'e znal, [uzh]2 ne uznajet schast'ja.
Na kratkij mig blazhenstvo nam dano:
Ot junosti, ot neg i sladostrast'ja
Ostanetsja unynije odno...

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¹ Titov: "унылой" ("unyloj")
² Titov: "тот" ("tot")

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Text Authorship:

• by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "К ***", 1817, first published 1825 [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 Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky (1813 - 1869), "Не спрашивай, зачем" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "Не спрашивай, зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov (1866 - 1901), "Не спрашивай, зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Grigory Aleksandrovich Kushelev-Bezborodko (1832 - 1870), "Не спрашивай, зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nikolai Alexeyevich Titov (1800 - 1875), "Не спрашивай, зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nikolai Sergeyevich Titov (1798 - 1843), "Не спрашивай, зачем", published 1834 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , copyright © 2020, (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: 65