I'm given a body -- what to do with it? | I'm given a body -- what to do with it?

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

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

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938)

Translation © by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020)

Дано мне тело — что мне делать с ним

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

Дано мне тело — что мне делать с ним,
Таким единым и таким моим?

За радость тихую дышать и жить
Кого, скажите, мне благодарить?

Я и садовник, я же и цветок,
В темнице мира я не одинок.

На стекла вечности уже легло
Моё дыхание, моё тепло.

Запечатлеется на нем узор,
Неузнаваемый с недавних пор.

Пускай мгновения стекает муть —
Узора милого не зачеркнуть.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• E. Firsova

E. Firsova sets stanzas 1-4, 6

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938) [author's text not yet checked 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 Elena Olegovna Firsova (b. 1950), "Дано мне тело — что мне делать с ним", op. 31 no. 3, published 1984, first performed 1986, stanzas 1-4,6 [ soprano and chamber ensemble ], from cantata Zemnaja zhizn', no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (b. 1932), "Дано мне тело — что мне делать с ним", 2002, published 2005 [ tenor, narrator and piano ], from Век мой, зверь мой = My Age, My Wild Beast = Meine Zeit, mein Raubtier, no. 2, Schott Music International & Co. [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "I'm given a body -- what to do with it?", copyright © 1984, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Dmitri Smirnov

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-24
Line count: 12
Word count: 63

I'm given a body ‑‑ what to do with it?

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

I'm given a body -- what to do with it?
It is so united and so much my own.

For the quiet happiness to breathe and live,
Tell me, to whom shall I give my thanks?

I am the gardener and the flower too,
In the world's dungeon I am not alone.

My breath, my warmth lay already down
On the window glass of eternity.

[The pattern will be imprinted there
Unrecognizable from recent times.]

Let the instant mud to be flown away --
The cherished pattern will be not erased.

Text Authorship:

by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "I'm given a body -- what to do with it?", copyright © 1984, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938)
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-24
Line count: 12
Word count: 89