DAWN KRYSTAL WILLIAMS

COMPOSER AND MEZZO-CONTRALTO
PYAT' PESEN
PYAT' PESEN
Solo Voice
Solo Voice
TEXT
Russian
TEXT
Russian
TRANSLATION
English
TRANSLATION
English
Kto b ni byl ty, pechal’nyi moi sosed,
Who are you, my sad neighbor,
Lyublyu tebya, kak druga yunykh let,
I love you, like a lifelong friend,
Tebya, tovarisch moi sluchainyi,
You, my chance acquaintance,
Khotya sud’by kovarnoyu igroi
Although fate’s insidious game
Naveki my razlucheny s toboi
Has separated us forever
Stenoi teper’ — a posle tainoi.
Now by a wall — and later by the unknown.
Kogda zari rumyanyi polusvet
When the rosy twilight
V okno tyur’my proschal’nyi svoi privet
Through the cell window
Mne umiraya posylaet
Sends me its farewells
I, opershis’ na zvuchnoe ruzh’yo,
And, leaning on his sonorous gun,
Nash chasovoi, pro staroe zhit’yo
The guard spends an hour
Mechtaya, stoya zasypaet,
Dreaming of his former life,
Togda, chelo skloniv k syroi stene,
Then, resting my brow on the damp wall,
Ya slushayu — i v mrachnoi tishine
I listen — and in the gloomy silence
Tvoi napevy razdayutsya.
I hear your songs.
O chom oni — ne znayu; no toskoi
What they’re about — I don’t know; but melancholy
Ispolneny, i zvuki cheredoi,
Drives them, and sounds, one after another,
Kak slyozy, tikho l’yutsya, l’yutsya...
Like tears, softly flow, flow...
I luchshikh let nadezhdy i lyubov’
And the best years of hope and love
V grudi moei vsyo ozhivaet vnov’,
All revive in my breast,
I mysli daleko nesutsya,
And my ideas rush far along,
I polon um zhelanii i strastei,
And my mind is full of desires and passions,
I krov’ kipit — i slyozy iz ochei,
And my blood boils — and tears from my eyes,
Kak zvuki, drug za drugom l’yutsya.
Like sounds, one after another flow.
– Poem by Mikhail Lermontov
– Transliteration and translation by Dawn K. Williams