Songs and Dances of Death

A child is groaning...  A candle, burning out,
Dimly flickers onto surroundings.
The whole night, rocking the cradle, 
A mother has not dozed away with sleep.
Early-early in the morning, carefully, on the door 
Compassionate Death -- Knock! 
The mother shuddered, looked back with worry...
"Don't get frightened, my dear!
Pale morning already looks in the window...
With crying, anguishing and loving
You have tired yourself, have a little nap, 
I'll sit instead of you.
You've failed to pacify the child.
I'll sing sweeter than you" -- 
"Quiet! My child rushes and struggles, 
Tormenting my soul!"
"Well, with me he'll soon be appeased.
Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby." -- 
"The cheeks are fading, the breath in weakening...
Be quiet, I beg you!" -- 
"That's a good sign, the suffering will quieten, 
Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby." -- 
"Be gone, you damned thing!
With your tenderness you'll kill my joy!" -- 
"No, a peaceful sleep I'll conjure up for the baby.
Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby." -- 
"Have pity, wait at least for a moment 
with finishing your awful song!" -- 
"Look, he fell asleep with my quiet singing. 
Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby."

Magical languor, blue night,
Trembling darkness of spring.
The sick girl takes in, with her head dropped, 
The whisper of the night's silence.
Sleep does not close her shining eyes, 
Life beckons towards pleasures, 
Meanwhile under the window in the midnight silence
Death sings a serenade:
"In the gloom of captivity, severe and stifling, 
Your youth is fading away;
A mysterious knight, with magic powers
I'll free you up.
Stand up, look at yourself: with beauty
Your translucent face is shining, 
Your cheeks are rosy, with a wavy plait
Your figure is entwined, like with a cloud. 
The blue radiance of your piercing eyes
Is brighter than skies and fire.   
Your breath flutters with the midday heat ...
You have seduced me.
Your hearing is captured with my serenade, 
Your voice called for a knight, 
The knight has come for the ultimate reward;
The hour of ecstasy has arrived.  
Your body is tender, your trembling is ravishing...
Oh, I'll suffocate you 
in my strong embraces: listen to my seductive 
chatter! ... be silent!... You are mine!"

Forest and glades, no one is around. 
A snow-storm is crying and groaning,
It feels as in the gloom of the night
The Evil One is burying someone;
Hush, it is so! In the darkness
Death is hugging and caressing an old man, 
With the drunkard She is dancing a trepak, 
While singing a song into his ear:
"Oh, my little wretched man,
Got drunk, stumbled along the road, 
But the witch-blizzard has risen furiously, 
And driven you from the glade into the dense forest.
Tortured with anguish and need, 
Lie down, curl up and fall asleep, my dear!
I'll warm you up with snow, my darling, 
And stir up a great game around you.
Shake up the bed, you blizzard-swan!
Hey, get going, start chanting, you weather
A fairytale, that could last all night, 
So that the drunkard could fall asleep soundly!
Hey you, forests, skies and clouds, 
Gloom, wind and fleeting snow, 
Wreathe into a shroud, snowy and fluffy;
With it I'll cover our old man, like a baby...
Sleep, my little friend, happy wretch, 
The summer has come and blossomed!
Above the fields the sun is laughing and sickles roam, 
The song hovers around; the doves are flying about..."

The battle is thundering, the armour is shining, 
Copper cannons are roaring, 
The troops are running, the horses are rushing
And red rivers are flowing.
The midday is blazing -- people are fighting, 
The sun is declining -- the fight is stronger, 
The sunset is fading away -- but the enemies
Are still battling more fierce and hateful.
And night has fallen on the battlefield.
The armies have parted in the darkness...
Everything has fallen quiet, and in the night's mist
The groans have risen to the heavens.
Then, illuminated by moonlight, 
On her battle horse, 
Shining with the whiteness of her bones, 
Appeared Death; and in the silence, 
Taking in moans and prayers, 
Full of proud satisfaction, 
Like a field marshal she circled around
The place of battle,
And having ridden to the top on the hill, 
looked around, stopped, smiled....
And above the battlefield
Roared her fateful voice:
"The battle is finished! I won over everyone!
You all submitted before me, soldiers!  
Life has made you quarrel, I have reconciled you!
Stand up as one for the parade, corpses!
Pass in front of me in a pompous march, 
I want to count my troops;
Then deposit your bones into the earth, 
It is sweet to rest from life in the ground! 
Year after year will pass, 
And even the memory of you will disappear.
I will not forget and loudly above you 
Will hold a feast at the midnight hour!
With a heavy dance I'll trample
The raw earth, so that the realm of the grave
Your bones will never be able to leave, 
So that you'll never rise from the ground!"