Sisters heaviness and tenderness -- your signs are the same

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by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938)

Translation © by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020)

Сёстры тяжесть и нежность, одинаковы ваши приметы

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

Сёстры тяжесть и нежность, одинаковы ваши приметы.
Медуницы и осы тяжелую розу сосут.
Человек умирает. Песок остывает согретый,
И вчерашнее солнце на чёрных носилках несут.

Ах, тяжёлые соты и нежные сети,
Легче камень поднять, чем имя твоё повторить!
У меня остаётся одна забота на свете:
Золотая забота, как времени бремя избыть.

Словно тёмную воду, я пью помутившийся воздух.
Время вспахано плугом, и роза землёю была.
В медленном водовороте тяжёлые нежные розы,
Розы тяжесть и нежность в двойные венки заплела!

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891 - 1938), written 1918, appears in Tristia, first published 1922 [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), "Сёстры тяжесть и нежность, одинаковы ваши приметы", op. 22 no. 5, published 1979, first performed 1981 [ soprano and chamber orchestra ], from cantata Tristia, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Dmitri Smirnov

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 79

Sisters heaviness and tenderness ‑‑ your...

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Sisters heaviness and tenderness -- your signs are the same.
Bees and wasps are sucking the heavy rose.
Man is dying. The heated sand is chilling,
And yesterday's sun is carried away on a black stretcher.

Ah, heavy honeycombs and tender nets,
It is easier to lift a stone than to repeat your name!
I have a single care left in this world,
A golden care -- to overcome the burden of time.

I drink the misty air like dark water
Time is ploughed, and a rose was the soil.
In the slow whirlpool the heavy and tender roses,
Heaviness and tenderness are entwined into twin wreaths.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), copyright ©, (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), written 1918, appears in Tristia, first published 1922
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 105