Ich weiß, du bist mein Gott und steh abseits

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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

I know thee as my God and stand apart

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: GER

I know thee as my God and stand apart --
I do not know thee as my own and come closer. 
I know thee as my father 
and bow before thy feet -- 
I do not grasp thy hand as my friend's.

I stand not where thou comest down 
and ownest thyself as mine, 
there to clasp thee to my heart 
and take thee as my comrade.

Thou art the Brother amongst my brothers, 
but I heed them not, 
I divide not my earnings with them, 
thus sharing my all with thee.

In pleasure and in pain I stand not by the side of men, 
and thus stand by thee. 
I shrink to give up my life, 
and thus do not plunge into the great waters of life.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 77, 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. 77 [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):

[ None yet in the database ]

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: 17
Word count: 126

Ich weiß, du bist mein Gott und steh...

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Ich weiß, du bist mein Gott und steh abseits -
ich weiß, du bist nicht mein und trete näher.
Ich weiß, dass du mein Vater bist 
und neige mich zu deinen Füßen -
Ich greife nicht nach deiner Hand, als wärst ein Freund du mir.

Ich steh nicht, wo du kommst herab 
und dich als mich erkennst,
um dich dann dort ans Herz zu drücken 
und dir Gefährte sein.

Du bist  d e r  Bruder unter meinen Brüdern, 
doch acht’ ich ihrer nicht
und teile meinen Lohn mit ihnen nicht, 
auf dass ich alles teil’ mit dir.

In Freud und Leid steh ich nicht bei den Menschen,
um so bei dir zu stehn. 
Mein Leben scheue ich dahinzugeben,
und falle daher nicht ins große Meer des Lebens.

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. 77, 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. 77 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-11
Line count: 17
Word count: 125