Dollie Radford

1858-1920 / England

Three Songs Written To Old Music

Croatian
ROSE that wert red,
Drop thy flower on my head,
Rose that wert red.
Leaves that were sweet,
Spill thy dews on my feet,
Leaves that were sweet.
Bird whose tired song
Broke and died the day long,
Sing thy old wrong.
Heart whose clear flame
Failed before the night came,
Hide thy sharp shame.
Rose that wert red,
Drop thy flower on my head,
Now that I am dead.

Finnish
(A Translation)
FAR so far my sweetheart is,
Long it takes to find him
Lonely miles of land and sea
Left so far behind him.
Far so far my sweet heart strays,
And my hope is dying,
Far so far, the little birds
Cannot there be flying.
If a letter that were his
Some swift bird would bear me
I should be so surely healed,
Sorrow then would spare me.
Fly to me, oh little bird,
Speak that I may hear you,
Were you in my sweetheart's land
And my sweetheart near you?
Fly to me, oh little bird,
Speak that I may hear you.

Russian
ALL the night and all the day,
In the desert I do stray,
Through the wind and through the snow,
In the darkness I must go.
When the winter days are done,
Fainting in the summer sun,
On the treeless plains I stray,
Through the night and through the day.
From your heart which is my home,
Sad and outcast I do roam,
Lost beneath an alien sky,
While the suns and moons go by.
Deep the pain that does not end,
Sharp the cry that I do send,
From the desert where I roam,
Sad and outcast from my home.
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