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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942)

Now the last day of many days
Language: English 
1
Now the last day of many days,
All beautiful and bright as thou,
The loveliest and the last, is dead:
Rise, Memory, and write its praise!
Up -- to thy wonted work! come, trace
The epitaph of glory fled,
For now the earth has changed its face,
A frown is on the heaven's brow.
  
2
We wander'd to the Pine Forest
  That skirts the ocean's foam.
The lightest wind was in its nest,
  The tempest in its home;
The whispering waves were half asleep,
  The clouds were gone to play,
And on the bosom of the deep
  The smile of heaven lay:
It seem'd as if the hour were one
  Sent from beyond the skies
Which scatter'd from above the sun
  A light of Paradise!
  
3
We paused amid the pines that stood
  The giants of the waste,
Tortured by storms to shapes as rude
  As serpents interlaced, -- 
And soothed by every azure breath
  That under heaven is blown,
To harmonies and hues beneath,
  As tender as its own.
Now all the tree-tops lay asleep
  Like green waves on the sea,
As still as in the silent deep
  The ocean-woods may be.

4  
How calm it was! -- The silence there
  By such a chain was bound,
That even the busy woodpecker
  Made stiller by her sound
The inviolable quietness;
  The breath of peace we drew
With its soft motion made not less
  The calm that round us grew.
There seem'd, from the remotest seat
  Of the wide mountain waste
To the soft flower beneath our feet,
  A magic circle traced, -- 
A spirit interfused around
  A thrilling silent life;
To momentary peace it bound
  Our mortal nature's strife; -- 
And still I felt the centre of
  The magic circle there
Was one fair form that fill'd with love
  The lifeless atmosphere.

5 
We paused beside the pools that lie
  Under the forest bough;
Each seem'd as 'twere a little sky
  Gulf'd in a world below -- 
A firmament of purple light
  Which in the dark earth lay,
More boundless than the depth of night
  And purer than the day --
In which the lovely forests grew
  As in the upper air,
More perfect both in shape and hue
  Than any spreading there.
There lay the glade and neighbouring lawn,
  And through the dark-green wood
The white sun twinkling like the dawn
  Out of a speckled cloud.
Sweet views which in our world above
  Can never well be seen
Were imaged in the water's love
  Of that fair forest green;
And all was interfused beneath
  With an Elysian glow,
An atmosphere without a breath,
  A softer day below.
Like one beloved, the scene had lent
  To the dark water's breast
Its every leaf and lineament
  With more than truth exprest;
Until an envious wind crept by,
  Like an unwelcome thought
Which from the mind's too faithful eye
  Blots one dear image out.
 -- Though thou art ever fair and kind,
  The forests ever green,
Less oft is peace in Shelley's mind
  Than calm in waters seen!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The recollection", subtitle: "To Jane" [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 Reginald B. Clarke , "A summer day", op. 19 no. 2, published 1900, begins "The whispering waves were half asleep" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Florence Gilbert , "Whispering waves (To Jane: The recollection)", published 1895 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Kenneth Blanchard Klaus (b. 1923), "Recollection: Now the last day", 1967, first performed 1966 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Agnes Lambert (d. 1929), "The whispering waves that were half asleep (from The "Pine Forest")", published 1907 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Montague Fawcett Phillips (1885 - 1969), "The whispering waves", published 1912 [ partsong: SATB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Alexander Voormolen (1895 - 1980), "From -- The recollection: Now the last day", published 1970 [ medium voice, strings, and celesta ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "The whispering waves", published 1905 [ SATB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Giorgio Federico Ghedini.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) , "Воспоминание", written 1822 ; composed by Anton Stepanovich Arensky.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Vzpomínka", subtitle: "Janě", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-11-24
Line count: 93
Word count: 500

Vospominanije
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the English 
  K Dzhen
       
Iz divnykh dnej, lazurnykh, jasnykh, 
Kak ty, moj milyj drug, prekrasnykh, 
Teper' - uvy! - poslednij den' 
Skonchalsja medlenno, unylo; 
Zemlja svoj obraz izmenila, 
Na Nebesakh - gustaja ten'. 
Vosstan', moj dukh, strjakhni dremotu, 
Skorej ispolnit' pospeshi 
Svoju privychnuju rabotu 
I `epitafiju pishi - 
Navek umershim dnjam prekrasnym, 
Mechtam plenitel'nym i jasnym. 

1 

Nad Morem spal Sosnovyj Les, 
Chut' slyshno vody peli; 
Dremala burja sred' Nebes, 
Kak v tikhoj kolybeli. 
Igrali tuchi, i s volnoj 
Volna skvoz' son sheptalas', 
I nad morskoju glubinoj 
Lazur' Nebes smejalas'. 
Kak budto `etot mirnyj chas 
Nisposlan byl bogami, 
I vechnyj Raj sijal dlja nas 
Nebesnymi luchami. 

2 

Drug s drugom sosny obnjalis', 
Izmjatye vetrami; 
Ikh such'ja zmejami splelis', 
Sklonjajasja nad nami. 
I k nam laskalos' - veterka 
Chut' slyshnoje dykhan'e, 
Primchavshis' k nam izdaleka, 
Kak ch'e-to lepetan'e. 
No spali sosny mertvym snom 
Bez grez i bez dvizhen'ja, 
Kak spjat vsegda na dne morskom 
Podvodnye rasten'ja. 

      3 

Kak tikho vse! Ni vzdokh, ni zvuk 
Pokoja ne smushchajet, 
I dazhe djatla bystryj stuk 
Sil'neje ottenjajet 
Bezzvuchnyj mir, i tish' krugom, 
I nashikh dush mechtan'ja, 
I les, ob"jatyj sladkim snom, - 
Vsju roskosh' obajan'ja. 
Slilis' v odin volshebnyj krug - 
Vershiny gor tumannykh, 
Cvety, polja i ty, moj drug, 
S poryvom dum zhelannykh. 
I svetu ustupila mgla 
Pred schastijem soznan'ja, 
Chto centrom kruga ty byla, 
O, nezhnoje sozdan'e! 


4 

I dolgo my, sklonivshi vzor, 
Pod sosnami stojali, 
Gljadeli v glub' lesnykh ozer, 
Tam nebesa sijali, 
Polny luchistogo ognja, 
Kak budto ch'i-to ochi, 
Jasnej bezoblachnogo dnja 
I glubzhe chernoj nochi. 
I les vidnelsja v bezdne vod: 
Spletalsja vetvjami, 
On byl volshebneje, chem tot, 
Chto ros vverkhu nad nami. 
Smotreli s prizrachnogo dna 
Pribrezhnykh trav izvivy, 
Lesnykh progalin pelena 
I tuchek perelivy. 
I byli nam vnizu vidny 
Tainstvennye kraski, - 
Ikh sozdala ljubov' volny, 
`Edem bezgreshnoj laski; 
To bylo - tikhikh, svetlykh struj 
Nemoje obajan'e, 
To byl Prirody poceluj, 
Vsekh sil jee slijan'e. 
No veter naletel v tishi, 
Ischezli otrazhen'ja, 
Kak luchshij rajskij son dushi 
Pred prizrakom somnen'ja. 
O, pust' ty vechno khorosha, 
Kak les prekrasen vechno, - 
No Shelli skorbnaja dusha 
Lish' mig odin bespechna!

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Note on Transliterations

Show untransliterated (original) text

Text Authorship:

  • by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942), "Воспоминание", written 1822 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The recollection", subtitle: "To Jane"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861 - 1906), "Воспоминание", op. 71, published 1905. [
     text not verified 
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-11-24
Line count: 89
Word count: 340

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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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