LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,114)
  • Text Authors (19,495)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

When I give up the helm I know
Language: English  after the Bangla (Bengali) 
Our translations:  GER
When I give up the helm I know 
that the time has come for thee to take it. 
What there is to do will be instantly done. 
Vain is this struggle.

Then take away your hands 
and silently put up with your defeat, my heart, 
and think it your good fortune to sit perfectly still 
where you are placed.

These my lamps are blown out at every little puff of wind, 
and trying to light them 
I forget all else again and again.

But I shall be wise this time and wait in the dark, 
spreading my mat on the floor; 
and whenever it is thy pleasure, my lord, 
come silently and take thy seat here.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 99, 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. 99 [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: 15
Word count: 116

Geb ich das Ruder aus der Hand, dann...
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Geb ich das Ruder aus der Hand, dann weiß ich wohl,
gekommen ist die Zeit, dass du es übernimmst.
Was nun zu tun ist, sei sogleich getan.
Umsonst ist alles Sträuben.

Gib alles aus der Hand, mein Herz,
nimm schweigend hin, dass du verloren.
Und nimm es als dein Glück, vollkommen still zu sein,
dort wo du bist.

Ein jeder kleiner Wind bläst meine Lampen aus,
und beim Versuch, sie anzuzünden, 
vergess’ ich alles andere aufs neu.

Doch diesmal werd’ ich weise sein, im Dunkel harren,
und meine Matte auf dem Boden breiten.
Wann immer, Herr, es dir zur Freude ist,
komm stille und nimm deinen Platz hier ein.

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. 99, 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. 99 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-21
Line count: 15
Word count: 109

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris