The muse | How can I live with this burden?

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by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966)

Translation © by Richard Shaw

Муза

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Как и жить мне с этой обузой?
А ещё называют Музой,
Говорят: «Ты с ней на лугу...»
Говорят: «Божественный лепет...»
Жёстче, чем лихорадка, оттреплет,
И опять весь год ни гу-гу!

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Text Authorship:

by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966), "Муза", written 1960 [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 Elena Olegovna Firsova (b. 1950), "Муза", op. 2b no. 4 (1967) [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Richard Shaw) , "The muse", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Muse", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Dmitri Smirnov

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-27
Line count: 6
Word count: 30

The muse

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

How can I live with this burden?
And yet they call her The Muse.
They say: "You and She by the meadow..."
They talk of "a Divine Murmur..."
She pulls you around worse than a fever,
Then for a whole year, not a word!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2008 by Richard Shaw, (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 Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966), "Муза", written 1960
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-27
Line count: 6
Word count: 44