Page:Songs of Russia.djvu/35

 Thou dost not in spring, vast Volga,
 * Flood the fields along thy strand

As our nation’s flood of sorrow,
 * Swelling, overflows the land.

O my heart, what is the meaning
 * Of this endless anguish deep?

Wilt thou ever, O my country,
 * Waken, full of strength, from sleep?

Or, by heaven’s mystic mandate,
 * Is thy fate fulfilled to-day,

Singing thus thy dirge, thy death-song,
 * Falling then asleep for aye?