V sëm grobe [milyj]1 čižik moj!
Prirody miloe tvoren'e,
Iz mirnoj oblosti zemnoj
On uletel, kak snoviden'e.

On dlja ljubvi na svete žil,
On nežnoj pesenkoj [otvetnoj]2,
Za lasku nežnuju platil,
I podletal k ruke privetnoj.

No v svete strašno i ljubit':
Emu byl dan družok krylatyj;
Čtob milogo ne perežit',
On v grobe skrylsja ot utraty.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Rachmaninov: "верный"
² Rachmaninov: "приветной"

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Show untransliterated (original) text

Text Authorship:

• by Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (1783 - 1852), "На смерть чижика", written 1819, first published 1827 [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 Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "На смерть чижика", op. 21 (Двенадцать романсов = Dvenadcat' romansov (Twelve songs)) no. 8 (1902) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , "On the death of a linnet", copyright © 2018, (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: 57