Voz'mi na radost' iz moikh ladonej

Voz'mi na radost' iz moikh ladonej
Nemnogo solnca i nemnogo mjoda,
Kak nam veleli pchjoly Persefony.

Ne otvjazat' neprikrepljonnoj lodki,
Ne uslykhat' v mekha obutoj teni,
Ne prevozmoch' v dremuchej zhizni strakha.

Nam ostajutsja tol'ko pocelui,
Mokhnatye, kak malen'kie pchjoly,
Chto umirajut, vyletev iz ul'ja.

Oni shurshat v prozrachnykh debrjakh nochi,
Ikh rodina — dremuchij les Tajgeta,
Ikh pishcha — vremja, medunica, mjata.

Voz'mi zh na radost' dikij moj podarok —
Nevzrachnoe sukhoe ozherel'e
Iz mjortvykh pchjol, mjod prevrativshikh v solnce.

Show Cyrillic (Покажите текст в кириллице)
Note on Transliteration

by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891-1938) , 1920, from Tristia, published 1922

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 (1950-) , "Voz'mi na radost' iz moikh ladonej", op. 22 no. 2, published 1979, first performed 1981 [cantata for soprano and chamber orchestra], from Tristia, no. 2.

ENG English [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)

Date added to the website: 2008-02-29.

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For your delight please take these from my hands

For your delight please take these from my hands:
A little of honey and a little of sun --
As Persephone's bees have commanded.

As an untied boat cannot be loosed,
And a fur-booted shadow can't be heard,
Fears of the wilds of life can't be defeated.

The only thing remained to us -- is kisses
The furry kisses, like the little bees,
Which perish flying out of their hive.

They rustle in the clear wilderness of night,
Their homeland is dark forests of Taygetos,
Their food is time, and honeysuckle, and mint.

For your delight please take my awkward present:
This simple unadorned dried necklace
Of dead bees who turned honey into sun.

Singable translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "For your delight please take these from my hands", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

a text in Russian by Osip Emil'evich Mandelstam (1891-1938) , 1920, from Tristia, published 1922

Date added to the website: 2008-02-29.