Gentle maid divine!
Thou who didst possess
All this heart of mine,
Sit not, my love’s light!
Watching through the night:
Waxen taper now
Burn no more, I pray,
Wait me now no more
Till the break of day!
All our hope is over,
And betrothed thy lover;
And I came to ask
For thy last farewell,
And my gratitude
For past love to tell.’
Hardly had he spoken,
Hardly had he said--
Sobbing--spirit-broken--
Wept the lovely maid:
Melting into tears,
Trembling in her fears,
Firmly yet she cried:
‘Give me, treacherous thing,
Give my golden ring:
Take the knife of steel
Which thou once hadst given,
Let its blade be driven
To my heart--and feel
How it burnt for thee,
While thou murderedst me!’
‘Weep not, gentle maid!
Weep no more, I pray;
I shall often come,
Come from day to day:
I shall love thee more--
Better--than before.’
But she wept again,
Lovely maid!--she wept,
And her tearful eye
On the traitor kept.
Never is the sun
Brighter than in June:
Love can never see
Twice its burning noon.
X.
_Perestan’ stonatæ Kukushechka._
Listen yet a while, thou cuckoo dear!
Call not, call not thou so sadly there!
For without thy notes my heart is torn,
Sicken’d, and dejected, and forlorn!
For the sun his lovely face has shrouded,
Frowning sits he in his palace clouded,
And the lovely maid is full of grief,
And that grief will never find an end--
Never find an end--for how can she,
How can she forget her bosom’s friend?
Not an hour--not even a moment--he,
He is present at the dawn of day,
At the nightfall--eve--and morning’s ray.
O he left the lovely maiden--he
Left the maiden for a little week--
For a week--but six months sped away--
Six long months--’twas an eternity.
XI.
_Chernovrovoi, chernoglazoi._
Hazel-eyebrow’d, hazel-eyed,
Thou audacious boy,
Why hast thou bewitch’d my heart,
And to grief betray’d?
Can the summer sun be cold,
Can the light be shade,
Can the heart exist on earth
Uninspired by love?
Does the sunshine cease to smile
When the floweret fades?
Is the heart untouch’d by love
When the heart is sad?
’Tis no lawless love that dwells
In my inner heart:
I will fly and seek my mate,
Like the bird in spring.
I will show him all his gifts,
Every kerchief sent;
He shall see those kerchiefs steam
With my burning tears!
On thy bosom dry them, dry
Those hot, burning tears;
Or commingle them with thine,
They will sweeter flow.
Hear! on the damp hedge a noise,
Snow-clouds on the field--
Stormy winds are gathering round,
Broken is the way.
Tarry in thy little cage,
O thou gentle bird,
Thou canst open not with tears
Yonder prison, dear!
Tell to thy affianced now
Some old tale of joy.
Never alone should a lovely maid
Wander across the field;
Never the maiden’s wandering eye
Should the handsome swains pursue;
Never the maid should dare to love,
To love the handsome swain:
But the maid should watch her tender heart
With ever-present care.
XII.
_Pover’kh dubchika._
On an oak there sate
A turtle with his mate--
There in amorous meeting
One another greeting,
Each with flapping wing
All its joy repeating.
Swift a vulture sprung,
Eagle-eyed and young,
And he bore away
That poor turtle gray--
That poor turtle gray,
With his ruby feet,
On the oak-tree wood
Spilt the turtle’s blood:
All the plumage soft
O’er the meadow driven;
All his down aloft
Borne by winds of heaven.
O how desolate
Sat the mourning mate;
How she groan’d and sigh’d
While her turtle died.
‘Weep not--why complain,
Little turtle, love?’
Said the vulture then
To the widow’d dove,
‘O’er the azure sea
I will bring to thee
Flocks of turtles, where
Thou shalt choose thy dear,
Choose thy lover sweet,
Choose the brightest, best,
With a fair gray breast,
And with ruby feet.’
‘Fly not, murderous bird!
O’er the azure sea!’
Thus the dove was heard
Answering mournfully:
‘Bring no flocks to me
O’er the azure sea;
Can their presence be
Comfort to my breast?
Will they bring to me
The father of my nest?’
XIII.
_Tĭ prokodish’ dorogaja._
Ah! thou hurriest by the convent,
My beloved one!
Ah! the convent where the wretched monk
Lives despairing.
’Twas by force he was conducted here,
And devoted!
O remove this hood, my dearest one,
O remove it!
Take away this frock, my fairest one,
I beseech thee.
Lay thy soft--O lay thy snowy hand
On my bosom;
Feel my heart--how my throbbing heart
Beats and trembles
With the flowing blood entangled,
Deeply sighing!
From thy countenance of gladness
Tears of sorrow
Drop! Come, contemplate with pity
My fate’s darkness;
I will ask not for forgiveness
Of my errors,
But that thou mayst love me--love me,
Thou, my angel!
THE END.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The versification of the above song is so singular, and at first
sight involved, that I doubted if I ought to preserve it. It is not
without harmony, and, when the accent is caught, it will, I imagine, be
deemed musical.
˘ ˘ ¯ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘,
˘ ˘ ¯ ¯, ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘
[2] Taper burning before a saint.
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Transcriber’s Notes
‣ Italics represented by surrounding _underscores_.
‣ Small caps converted to ALL CAPS.
‣ Footnotes renumbered consecutively within each chapter and moved to
the end of those respective chapters.
‣ Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.
‣ Variations in hypenation and spelling kept as in the original.
‣ Duplicate chapter titles omitted.
‣ The spellings of “Ostiak” and “Ostjak” from the original have been
standardized to the modern “Ostyak”.