Ich lag auf dem Meer, über mir wälzte sich das Licht.
Ich sah: von einer [glänzenden Klippe
Banden]1 weißer Vögel aufschwirren.
Ich [schleuderte]2 ein Seil, sie einzufangen.
Weiße Tiere, Traum, [Fantasie]3 und Meer.
Weiße [Tiere: ewige Glanz-Wiederkehr]4.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with a reprint of the 1921 original: Alfred Mombert, Die Schöpfung, Paderborn: Salzwasser Verlag, 2015, page 125

¹ Geutebrück: "fernen Klippe / Eine Bande"
² Geutebrück: "warf"
³ Geutebrück: "Phantasie"
⁴ Geutebrück: " Tiere und ewig lächelnde Wiederkehr"

Text Authorship:

• by Alfred Mombert (1872 - 1942), no title, appears in Die Schöpfung, first published 1902 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Robert Georg Ernst Geutebrück (1893 - 1944), "Ich lag auf dem Meer", op. 1 (Lieder und Gesänge) no. 1, published <<1916? [ voice and piano ], Wien: C Schmidl & Comp. Nachf. Otto Keerl [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-29
Line count: 6
Word count: 42

I lay upon the sea, above me the light rolled.
I saw: from a [shining crag
Swarms]1 of birds whirr aloft.
I threw a rope to catch them.
White animals, dream, fantasy and sea.
White [animals: an eternal return of radiance]2.