In Spring | Tell me, you dreamer in broad daylight

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by Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Im Lenz

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE ITA

Sag' an, du Träumer am lichten Tag.
Was willst du heut' mit dem Bangen?
Du wandelst so stumm durch Lenz und Hag,
Als wärst du von Blindheit befangen.

"Ich bin nicht blind und sehe doch nicht,
Mir ist nicht dunkel und ist nicht licht.
Könnt' lachen und könnte weinen.
Doch sagen könnt' ich es keinem."

O sieht dich die Sonne so freundlich an, 
Was sollen dir Schmerz und Reue?
Wirf ab deine Last, du trauriger Mann,
Und freu' dich an Sonne und Bläue.

"Mich freut keine Sonne, mich freut kein Blau
Und hab' doch den Frühling so gerne.
Ach, die ich allein nur am liebsten erschau,
Die weilt schon lang in der Ferne."

Text Authorship:

by Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911), "Im Lenz", 1880 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A primavera", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "In Spring", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Au printemps", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "In primavera", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 113

In Spring

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Tell me, you dreamer in broad daylight,
why do you have fears today?
You stroll so silently through vernal breezes and groves
as if you were struck blind.

„I am not blind, yet I can’t see,
nothing is dark and nothing is light to me,
I could just laugh, I could just cry,
yet I could not say it to anybody.“

Oh the sun looks down on you so kindly,
how now anguish and regret?
Cast off your burdens, you sorrowful man,
and delight in the sun and the blue of the sky.

„Neither sun nor blue give me any delight,
although I cherish Spring.
Oh, the one who I yearn to behold above all
has lived far away for long.“

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-03-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 121