“The Last Request” (a decadent romance)

“The Last Request”
(from the cycle of musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”).
This is a decadent romance. The video is simply a story and is not directly connected to the plot of the novel.
Music by A. Khomenko
Lyrics by V. Osadchenko
Sung by A. Yachmenev

Lyrics:

Why should I fear the grave, or death’s embrace?
A shimmering moonlit path calls me away.
But, friends, as you escort me from this place,
Upon my breast the sacred Eye don’t lay.

White roses, silks, chrysanthemums so fair
Will wrap my body gently in their fold.
Though mournful, mute, you’ll hear me singing there:
A dead heart through the roses, calm and cold.

And when the moon is full, unbar the door.
How weightless is the moon-winged flight!
Whoever stays faithful, though life is o’er,
Will enter eternity with me tonight.

Twilight will take our weary souls to rest.
No more of candles, no more of prayer.
The grief of old grows quieter in the breast,
And old remembrance hardly hurts us there...

(translation by Claude)