C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
The Vesper Bells
By Ivan Kozlov (1779–1840)
Translation of Nathan Haskell Dole
O
My heart with sweet remembrance swells.
Ye bring me back to days of yore;
I see my father’s home once more,
As when I left it for all time,
And heard your last, your parting chime.
How little profit did ye bring!
How many, once so young and gay,
No longer see the light of day.
Their sleep is deep where silence dwells,—
They do not hear the vesper bells!
A song of melancholy sound
The breeze above my grave shall sigh;
Another singer shall pass by,—
Not I but he it is who tells
The meaning of the vesper bells!