ALEKSANDR BLOK, "Девушка пела в церковном хоре" Translation into English, "In The Choir of a Church a Young Girl Was Singing"

Aleksandr Blok

(1880-1921)

Девушка пела в церковном хоре
О всех усталых в чужом краю,
О всех кораблях, ушедших в море,
О всех, забывших радость свою.

Так пел ее голос, летящий в купол,
И луч сиял на белом плече,
И каждый из мрака смотрел и слушал,
Как белое платье пело в луче.

И всем казалось, что радость будет,
Что в тихой заводи все корабли,
Что на чужбине усталые люди
Светлую жизнь себе обрели.

И голос был сладок, и луч был тонок,
И только высоко, у Царских Врат,
Причастный Тайнам,- плакал ребенок
О том, что никто не придет назад.

                                                               August, 1905

Literal Translation

A girl in a church choir sang

About all those who were weary in a foreign land,

About all the ships that had gone to sea,

About all those who had forgotten their joy.

So sang out her voice, flying up to the cupola,

And a ray of light shone on her white shoulder,

And all those in darkness watched and listened,

As the white dress sang in the ray.

And it seemed to them all that joy would come,

That all the ships were in a quiet backwater,

That weary people in a foreign land

Had found a bright life for themselves.

And the voice was sweet, and the ray was slender (thin),

And only up high, by the Royal Gates [entrance to the altar in an Orthodox church],

Privy to the Secrets, a child was crying

Over the fact that no one would ever come back.

Rhymed and Metered Translation

In the choir of a church a young girl was singing,

Of languishing folk in an alien demesne,

Of ships out at sea lashed by gales harsh and stinging,

Of all those whose joys had been tempered by pain.  

Her voice rang on high, soaring up to the dome,

And a ray of white gleamed on her arm’s shadow play,

And those swathed in darkness beheld that pure tone,

As the white of her dress sang its song in the ray.

And each of them felt as if joy were at hand,

As if all harried ships would soon find a safe niche,

As if worn, wearied people in a far distant land

Were bathed in a song with a perfect light pitch.

And the voice was pure sweetness, the ray shone undying,

But perched way up high, on the wall’s narrow berm,

Aware of all Secrets, a child was crying,

For the teeming lost dead who would never return.

                                                                                           Translated by U.R. Bowie, June, 2018

Translator’s Note

Literary critics have noted the preponderance of maritime imagery in Blok’s poetry written in the summer of 1905. Much on all Russians’ minds at the time was the Russo-Japanese War and the devastating defeat in the maritime Battle of Tsushima. Attempting to relieve the Japanese siege of Port Arthur, in an amazing logistical feat, the Russian Baltic fleet had sailed all around the world.

By the time the fleet reached the Sea of Japan, in May of 1905, Port Arthur had fallen, and the Russian armada changed course, making for the port of Vladivostok. Engaging the Russians in the Tsushima Straits on 27-28 May, 1905, the Japanese annihilated the whole fleet. The Russians lost eight battleships, numerous smaller vessels, and more than 5000 men. Only three Russian ships made it safely to Vladivostok.

Some critics have noted that what the girl sings is a kind of prayer, for the repose of the dead sailors of the Russian fleet, or for those adrift in foreign lands. In the Russian Orthodox church there is also a prayer of intercession intoned by the priest (called евтения), for wayfarers at sea, travelers, and all those who are ill or suffering, during which the choir sings repetitively the Kyrie eleison (Господи помилуй).

The prayer of the girl, or of the priest and the choir, alas, is of no avail, since, as the final line tells us, no one ever gets back alive. Once again, this could be an oblique reference to the dead sailors, or, to take it more broadly, it may allude to the vast dead of the historical universe.

Some have suggested that the child crying at the Royal Gates is a depiction of a cherub, or of the Christ child.

Blok's poem declaimed by Olga Bunina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a2dRw-MLxM