by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Translation by Mikhail Alekseyevich Kuzmin (1872 - 1936)
Tread lightly, she is near
Language: English
Tread lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow. All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, She that was young and fair Fallen to dust. Lily-like, white as snow, She hardly knew She was a woman so Sweetly she grew. Coffin-board, heavy stone, Lie on her breast. I vex my heart alone, She is at rest. Peace, Peace, she cannot hear Lyre or sonnet, All my life's buried here, Heap earth upon it.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Requiescat", from Poems, first published 1881 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Requiescat", 2009 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Howard Leake Boatwright (1918 - 1999), "Requiescat", from Five Early Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916), "Requiescat", 1911, published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kathleen Blair Clarke , "Requiescat", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Clough-Leighter (1874 - 1956), "Requiescat", op. 57 no. 6, published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Cory (b. 1920?), "Requiescat", published 1951 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four Settings of British Poets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luigi Dallapiccola (1904 - 1975), "Tread lightly, she is near", published 1960 [ SATB chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Matthew Emery (b. 1991), "Requiescat", 2011-12, first performed 2012 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Songs of Mourning, no. 2, premiered March 2012 (Part of the Vancouver International Song Institute 2012) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ferenc Farkas (1905 - 2000), "Requiescat", 1993, copyright © 1996 [ voice and piano ], from Orpheus respiciens, no. 7, Ascolta Publishing [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Trowbridge Haubiel (1892 - 1978), "Requiescat", published 1937 [ SSAA chorus and 2 pianos (or orchestra, or orchestra with harp)] ], from L'amore spiritual [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harold Vincent Jervis-Read (1883 - 1945), "At rest", op. 21, first performed 1910 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert William Jones (b. 1932), "Requiescat" [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Frederick McKay (1899 - 1970), "Requiescat" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Requiescat", 1998 [ voice and piano ], from Three Poems of Oscar Wilde, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Requiescat", 1997, published 1999, from Evidence of Things Not Seen, no. 22 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Evelyn Sharpe , "Requiescat", published 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Van Vactor (b. 1906), "Requiescat", published 1944 [ voice and piano ], from Vocal Works [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gordon Ellsworth Young (b. 1919), "Requiescat", published 1954 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Otto Hauser (1876 - 1944) , "Requiescat" ; composed by Erwin Schulhoff.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Mikhail Alekseyevich Kuzmin (1872 - 1936) , "Requiescat" ; composed by Aleksandr Abramovich Kreyn.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 81
Requiescat
Language: Russian (Русский) after the English
Ступай легко: ведь обитает
Она под снегом там.
Шепчи нежней: она внимает
Лесным цветам.
Заржавела коса златая,
Потускла, ах!
Она — прекрасная, младая —
Теперь лишь прах.
Белее лилии блистала,
Росла, любя,
И женщиной едва сознала
Сама себя.
Доска тяжелая и камень
Легли на грудь.
Мне мучит сердце жгучий пламень. —
Ей — отдохнуть.
Мир, мир! Не долетит до слуха
Живой сонет.
Зарытому с ней в землю глухо
Мне жизни нет.
Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST
Note on TransliterationsAuthorship:
- by Mikhail Alekseyevich Kuzmin (1872 - 1936), "Requiescat" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Requiescat", from Poems, first published 1881
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 Abramovich Kreyn (1883 - 1951), "Requiescat", subtitle: "Ступай легко", op. 20 no. 2, published 1916 [ voice and piano ], from Во дни скорби (Vo dni skorbi) = In the Days of Mourning, no. 2, Moscow: P. Jurgenson [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-07-24
Line count: 20
Word count: 71