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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942)
Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail

Похоронный слышен звон
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the English 
Our translations:  ENG
    Похоронный слышен звон,
      Долгий звон!
Горькой скорби слышны звуки, горькой жизни кончен сон, -
Звук железный возвещает о печали похорон!
    И невольно мы дрожим,
    От забав своих спешим
И рыдаем, вспоминаем, что и мы глаза смежим.
    Неизменно-монотонный,
    Этот возглас отдаленный,
    Похоронный тяжкий звон,
      Точно стон -
      Скорбный, гневный
      И плачевный,
    Вырастает в долгий гул,
Возвещает, что страдалец непробудным сном уснул.
    В колокольных кельях ржавых
    Он для правых и неправых
    Грозно вторит об одном: --
Что на сердце будет камень, что глаза сомкнутся сном.
    Факел траурный горит,
С колокольни кто-то крикнул, кто-то громко говорит.
    Кто-то чёрный там стоит,
    И хохочет, и гремит,
    И гудит, гудит, гудит,
    К колокольне припадает,
    Гулкий колокол качает -
    Гулкий колокол рыдает,
    Стонет в воздухе немом,
И протяжно возвещает о покое гробом.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with К. Д. Бальмонт, Из Мировой Поэзии, Берлин: Изд. Слово, 1921, pages 80-83.


Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942), no title, appears in Колокольчики и колокола (Kolokol'chiki i kolokola), no. 4 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), no title, appears in The Bells, no. 4
    • 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 Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Похоронный слышен звон", op. 35 no. 4, published 1920 [ chorus, soprano, tenor, baritone solo voices, and orchestra ], from Колокола (Kolokola), no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ahmed E. Ismail

This text was added to the website: 2007-12-14
Line count: 29
Word count: 122

Hear the funeral bell ring
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
Hear the funeral bell ring;
Long does it ring!
Bitter sorrow in audible pitches, a bitter life ending in slumber.
An iron note announces the funereal melancholy.
And against our wills we shiver,
Hastening from the strange entertainment
And weep, remembering that our own eyes shall be shut.
Persistent and monotonous,
That distant cry
Of the funeral bell's leaden pealing,
Indeed groaning,
Sorrowful, angry,
And lamentable,
Swelling and rumbling long,
Announcing that the sufferer sleeps in wakeless slumber.
In the bell's rusty belfry
On behalf of the righteous and the wicked
It menacingly echoes:
That the soul is entombed in stone, that the eyes are shuttered in sleep.
The mourning torch blazes;
With the bells someone is shouting, someone loudly announces.
A dark figure stands there,
And roars with laughter, and growls,
And screams, screams, screams;
Leaning against the belfry,
he swings the sonorous bell.
The sonorous bell sobs,
Groaning in the silent air
And slowly announcing the coffin's peace. 

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2007 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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 Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942), no title, appears in Колокольчики и колокола (Kolokol'chiki i kolokola), no. 4 [an adaptation]
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in English by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), no title, appears in The Bells, no. 4
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2007-12-14
Line count: 29
Word count: 160

Gentle Reminder

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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