by
Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968)
A night thought on Terrace Tower
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文)
Available translation(s): GER
Far through the night a harp is sighing
With a sadness of wind and rain in the strings.
There's a solitary lantern, a bugle call
And beyond Terrace Tower down goes the moon.
Fragrant grasses have changed and faded
While still I have been hoping that my old friend would come.
There are no more messengers I can send him,
Now that the wild geese have turned south.
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Authorship:
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Wei Zhuang (836 - 910), "章臺夜思"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nächt'ger Gedanke auf dem Turm der Zitadelle", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 68
Nächt'ger Gedanke auf dem Turm der Zitadelle
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Weit durch die Nacht weht Harfenklang,
des Winds und Regens Schwermut rührt die Saiten...
Einzig einer Lampe Schein, ein Hornsignal -
und hinter dem Terrassenturm versinkt der Mond.
Dorr und verblüht sind die duftenden Gräser,
derweil ich gehofft, er käme, mein alter Freund ...
Nicht mehr kann ich ihm Boten senden,
nun, da die Wildgänse südwärts ziehn.
Authorship:
Based on:
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Wei Zhuang (836 - 910), "章臺夜思"
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 57