RUSSIAN LYRICS

SONGS OF COSSACK, LOVER, PATRIOT AND PEASANT

DONE INTO ENGLISH VERSE

BY MARTHA GILBERT DICKINSON BIANCHI

Author of "Within the Hedge," "The Cathedral," "A Modern Prometheus," "The Cuckoo's Nest" etc.

NEW YORK DUFFIELD AND COMPANY 1916

COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY DUFFIELD AND COMPANY

To "A soul of passion, mirth and tears."

The Song of the Kazak………………………….. Pushkin
Cradle Song of a Cossack Mother………………. Lermontoff
The Dagger…………………………………. Lermontoff
Don't Give Me the Wine!……….(From the Georgian of Prince
Tschawtschawadze)
The Delibash………………………………….. Pushkin
To the Don……………………………………. Pushkin
The Caucas……………………………………. Pushkin
The Cloister on Kasbek…………………………. Pushkin
Goblins of the Steppes…………………………. Pushkin
Under a Portrait of Jukowsky……………………. Pushkin
The Vision……………………………………. Pushkin
I Loved Thee………………………………….. Pushkin
Serenade……………………………………… Pushkin
A Winter Evening………………………………. Pushkin
The Last Flower……………………………….. Pushkin
Stanzas from "Onegin"
Our Northern Winter's fickle Summer……………. Pushkin
Sometimes He read Aloud with Olga……………… Pushkin
Love Condescends to Every Altar……………….. Pushkin
How Sad to Me is Thine Appearing………………. Pushkin
The Memorial………………………………….. Pushkin
Tamara…………………………………….. Lermontoff
The Gift of the Terek……………………….. Lermontoff
On Departure for the Caucas………………….. Lermontoff
To the Clouds………………………………. Lermontoff
To My Country………………………………. Lermontoff
To Kasbek………………………………….. Lermontoff
The Angel………………………………….. Lermontoff
A Prayer…………………………………… Lermontoff
The Sail…………………………………… Lermontoff
I Am Not Byron……………………………… Lermontoff
Like An Evil Spirit…………………………. Lermontoff
To A.C.S…………………………………… Lermontoff
A Song…………………………………….. Lermontoff
From Démon…………………………………. Lermontoff
The Prayer…………………………………. Lermontoff
The Palm Branch of Palestine…………………. Lermontoff
The Dispute………………………………… Lermontoff
Heaven and the Stars………………………… Lermontoff
On Napoleon's Death…………………………. Lermontoff
On the Death of Pushkin……………………… Lermontoff
Russia, O My Russia, Hail!……………………… Tolstoy
The Wolves……………………………………. Tolstoy
Autumn……………………………………….. Tolstoy
Burnt Out Is Now My Misery……………………… Tolstoy
In Hours of Ebbing Tide………………………… Tolstoy
Swans…………………………………………. Maikow
To Sleep………………………………………. Maikow
In Memory of My Daughter………………………… Maikow
Mother and Child……………………………….. Maikow
An Easter Greeting……………………………… Maikow
At Easter……………………………………… Maikow
O Mountains of My Native Country!………………… Maikow
The Aeolian Harp……………………………….. Maikow
Ye Songs of Mine!……………………………. Nekrassow
In War……………………………………… Nekrassow
A Song of Siberian Exiles…………………….. Nekrassow
Freedom…………………………………….. Nekrassow
A Farewell………………………………….. Nekrassow
The Love Letter……………………………… Nekrassow
What the Sleepless Grandam Thinks……………… Nekrassow
To Russia…………………………………….. Nikitin
The Song of the Spendthrift…………………….. Nikitin
The Spade is Deep Digging a Grave in the Mould……. Nikitin
Gossip……………………………………….. Nikitin
In a Peasant Hut………………………………. Nikitin
Winter Night in the Village…………………….. Nikitin
The Birch Tree………………………………… Nikitin
North and South……………………………….. Nikitin
Hunger……………………………………….. Fofanow
Faded the Footstep of Spring from Our Garden……… Fofanow
The Beggar……………………………………. Fofanow
With Roses…………………. (From the Georgian of Prince
Tschawtschawadze)
The Stars……….. (From the Caucasian of Prince Oberlaine)
Whispers and the Timid Breathing………. ("Fete Chenchine")
The Tales of the Stars………………………… Fofanow
One Dearest Pair of Eyes I Love…………….. (Gipsy Song)
A Gipsy Song…………………………………. Polonsky
At Last…………………………………… Plestcheeff
By An Open Window…………….. The Grand Duke Constantine
With the Greatness of God All My Heart Is On Fire!…. Nadson
The Poet………………………………………. Nadson
To the Muse……………………………………. Nadson
A Fragment…………………………………….. Nadson
In May………………………………………… Nadson
In Memory of N.M.D……………………………… Nadson
At the Grave of N.M.D…………………………… Nadson
In Dreams……………………………………… Nadson
The Old Grey House……………………………… Nadson
Call Him Not Dead,—He Lives!……………………. Nadson

Brief Biographical Notes:
Alexander Sergjewitsch Pushkin
Michail Jurjewitsch Lermontoff
Count Alexis Constantinowitsch Tolstoy
Apollon Nikolajewitsch Maikow
Nikolai Alexajewitsch Nekrassow
Ivan Ssawitsch Nikitin
Constantine Michailowitsch Fofanow
Semijon Jakolowitsch Nadson

To the Reader.

The translations in this little collection make no pretension to being more than an effort to share the delight found in them; from which most of the world is debarred by the difficulty of the language in which they are written. They have been chosen at random, each for some intrinsic charm or because of its bearing upon some peculiar phase of the author. Very few of the lyrics of Pushkin have been included, for the reason that the great founder of Russian poetry has been more widely translated than any other Russian poet, and is therefore available in several languages.

Remembering always that Heine declared translation was betrayal,—the rhyme and smoothness have in every case been sacrificed when necessary to preserve the exact rhythm, and as far as possible the vigour and colour, as well as thought of the original; a task entirely beyond me save for the co-operation of an accomplished Russian linguist who has kindly assisted in the literal translation of every poem here presented.

M.G.D.B.

RUSSIAN LYRICS AND COSSACK SONGS

THE SONG OF THE KAZAK

Kazak speeds ever toward the North,
Kazak has never heart for rest,
Not on the field, nor in the wood,
Nor when in face of danger pressed
His steed the raging stream must breast!

Kazak speeds ever toward the North,
With him a mighty power brings,
To win the honour of his land
Kazak his life unheeding flings—
Till fame of him eternal sings!

Kazak brought all Siberia
At foot of Russia's throne to lie,
Kazak left glory in the Alps,
His name the Turk can terrify,
His flag he ever carries high!