What are words of love to you? | What to you are words of love?

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by Aleksandr Nikolayevich Ammosov (1823 - 1866)

Translation © by Erin Franklin

Что вам слова любви?

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Что вам слова любви?
Вы бредом назовёте.
Что слёзы вам мои?
И слёз вы не поймёте.

Оставьте ж мне мечты.
Ни словом и ни взглядом
Сердечной теплоты
Не отравляйте ядом.

Люблю её одну,
Как жизнь мою,
Как свет, люблю,
Люблю, как тишину
Моих очарований,
От злой людской толпы
Я в даль немую рвуся
И к ней на крыльях дум
Далёко уношуся!

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Полное собрание сочинений М. П. Мусоргского под редакцией П.А.Ламма, т.I—VIII, РГАЛИ (Российский государственный архив литературы и искусства), 1928—1939 гг.

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Aleksandr Nikolayevich Ammosov (1823 - 1866), no title, written 1860 [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 Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881), "Что вам слова любви?", 1860. [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

ENG English (Erin Franklin) , "What are words of love to you?", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Que sont pour vous les mots d'amour ?", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 17
Word count: 61

What are words of love to you?

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

What to you are words of love? 
You with delirium call.
What are my tears to you?
Even tears you will not understand.

Stop these dreams, 
no word and no glance
Of heart's warmth 
does not envenom me with poison!

I love her alone, 
as my life,
As I love light, 
love how peaceful
My fascination,
From evil men's crowd 
I in the distance am torn
And toward her on wings 
my thoughts are carried far away.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2009 by Erin Franklin, (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 Aleksandr Nikolayevich Ammosov (1823 - 1866), no title, written 1860
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-08-10
Line count: 17
Word count: 77