[Lika_k]

Elinor Wylie
Fire and Sleet and Candle-light
For this you’ve striven,
Daring, to fail:
Your sky is riven
Like a tearing veil.

For this, you’ve wasted
Wings of your youth;
Divined, and tasted
Bitter springs of truth.

From sand unslakèd
Twisted strong cords,
And wandered naked
Among trysted swords.

There’s a word unspoken,
A knot untied.
Whatever is broken
The earth may hide.

The road was jagged
Over sharp stones:
Your body’s too ragged
To cover your bones.

The wind scatters
Tears upon dust;
Your soul’s in tatters
Where the spears thrust.

Your race is ended—
See, it is run:
Nothing is mended
Under the sun.

Straight as an arrow
You fall to a sleep
Not too narrow
And not too deep.

(From “Still Colors” in Poetry, V. 18, No. 1, April 1921)

Название стихотворения взято из народной песни Lyke-Wake Dirge, в которой рассказывается о пути души от земли к Чистилищу (один из вариантов Fire and Fleet). Помимо прочего фраза является названием макабрического поэтического сборника (1961), в котором сама Элинор Уайли тоже публиковалась, но мне пока не удалось разобраться, что именно из ее произведений вошло в тот сборник.

Lyke-Wake Dirge Бриттен использовал для своей "Серенады для тенора, валторны и струнных.

Народная песня


This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle,
Fyre and slaete and candle-lighte,
And Christe receive thy saule.

When from hence away art past,
Every nighte and alle,
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last;
And Christe receive thy saule.

If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon,
Every nighte and alle,
Sit thee down and put them on;
And Christe receive thy saule.

If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
Every nighte and alle,
The whinnes shall prick thee to the bare bane;
And Christe receive thy saule.

From Whinny-muir whence thou may'st pass,
Every nighte and alle,
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last;
And Christe receive thy saule.

From Brig o' Dread whence thou may'st pass, Every nighte and alle,
To Purgatory fyre thou com'st at last;
And Christe receive thy saule.

If ever thou gav'st meat or drink,
Every nighte and alle,
The fyre shall never make thee shrink;
And Christe receive thy saule.

If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane,
Every nighte and alle,
The fyre will burn thee to the bare bane;
And Christe receive thy saule.

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle,
Fyre and slaete* and candle-lighte,
And Christe receive thy saule. *slaete=slate/roof=house

Modern translation

См. также С. Маршак - "Песня нищих"

Бриттен:
Dirge from Serenade op. 31 Sir Peter Pears, Barry Tuckwell, London Symphony Orchestra & Benjamin Britten


Adrian Thompson - Tenor, Michael Thompson - Horn, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, David Lloyd-Jones


Полная запись серенады
Britten, Benjamin (1913-76) -composer
Ian Bostridge -tenor
Marie-Luise Neunecker -horn
Ingo Metzmacher -conductor
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Serenade (Op. 31):
I. Prologue 00:00
II. Pastoral 01:18
III. Nocturne 04:32
IV. Elegy 08:20
V. Dirge 12:40
VI. Hymn 16:11
VII. Sonnet 18:05
VIII.Epilogue 21:36

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