On the wide, wide sea

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by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865 - 1940)

Translation © by Iain Sneddon

Po szerokiem, po szerokiem morzu

Language: Polish (Polski)

Our translations: ENG

Po szerokiem, po szerokiem morzu
Płynie okręt z kotwicą urwaną,
Wiatr go pędzi coraz dalej, dalej
W przestrzeń pustą, chmurną, ołowianą.

Po szerokiem, po szerokiem morzu
Nie do brzegu ty płyniesz okręcie,
O podwodną gdzieś uderzysz skałę
I bez śladu przepadniesz w odmęcie.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Poezye. II. Wydanie trzecie (third edition), Warszawa: Nakład Gebethnera i Wolffa, Kraków: G. Gebethner i Spółka, 1901.

Text Authorship:

by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865 - 1940), no title, appears in Preludja, no. 24 [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 Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876 - 1909), "Po szerokiem, po szerokiem morzu", op. 3 no. 9 (1896), published 1933 [ voice and piano ], Verified with Trzy piesny Warszawskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne, Warsaw 1933. [sung text checked 1 time]
by Henryk Opieński (1870 - 1942), "Preludium IV", op. 9 no. 4 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Ernst Eulenburg, n.d.(ca.1910). Plate E.E. 3031 [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-02-29
Line count: 8
Word count: 43

On the wide, wide sea

Language: English after the Polish (Polski)

On the wide, wide sea
A ship sails with a broken anchor,
The wind drives it further and further
Into the empty, cloudy, leaden expanse.

On the wide, wide sea
Ship, you do not sail to the shore,
Somewhere, you will hit a submerged rock
And sink into the depths without a trace.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Po szerokiem, po szerokiem morzu" = "On the wide, wide sea"
"Preludium IV" = "Prelude No. 4"

Text Authorship:

Translation from Polish (Polski) to English copyright © 2025 by Iain Sneddon, (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 Polish (Polski) by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865 - 1940), no title, appears in Preludja, no. 24
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-02-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 53