Schön ist dein Armgeschmeide, sternbesät

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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with...

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: GER

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with stars 
and cunningly wrought in myriad-coloured jewels. 
But more beautiful to me thy sword with its curve of lightning 
like the outspread wings of the divine bird of Vishnu, 
perfectly poised in the angry red light of the sunset.

It quivers like the one last response of life 
in ecstasy of pain at the final stroke of death; 
it shines like the pure flame of being 
burning up earthly sense with one fierce flash.

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with starry gems; 
but thy sword, O lord of thunder, 
is wrought with uttermost beauty, 
terrible to behold or think of.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 53, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 53 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

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

by Reginald Lindsey Sweet (1885 - 1950?), "Beautiful is thy wristlet", 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Tagore Poems, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 13
Word count: 106

Schön ist dein Armgeschmeide, sternbesät

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Schön ist dein Armgeschmeide, sternbesät,
kunstvoll getrieben und in allen Farben funkelnd.
Doch schöner noch ist mir dein Schwert wie eines Blitzes Bogen,
wie die gespreizte Schwinge Garudas, göttlicher Vogel Vishnus,
bereit zum Angriff im hochroten Licht der Abendsonn’.

Es zittert wie der letzte Widerhall des Seins
im Taumel schwerer Pein beim letzten Todesstoß;
es leuchtet wie des Daseins reine Flamm’,
die ird’schen Sinn mit einem jähen Blitz verglüht. 

Gar schön ist deines Arms Geschmeid’, besetzt mit Sternjuwelen;
doch ist dein Schwert, o Donnergott, 
von höchst vollkommnem Maß,
schrecklich zu schaun oder daran zu denken.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) 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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 53, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 53 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-06-13
Line count: 13
Word count: 95