Prayer | Bear it, let pain cut sharply through

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by Ferdinand Avenarius (1856 - 1923)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Gebet

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Ertrage [dus]¹, laß schneiden dir den Schmerz
Scharf durchs Gehirn und wühlen hart durchs Herz --
Das ist der Pflug, nach dem der Sämann sät,
Daß aus der Erde Wunden Korn ersteht. 

Korn, das der armen Seele Hunger stillt --
Mit Korn, o Vater, segne mein Gefild:
Reiß deinem Pflug erbarmungslos den Pfad,
Doch wirf auch ein in seine Furchen Saat!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Webern

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Ferdinand Avenarius, Stimmen und Bilder. Neue Gedichte, Florenz und Leipzig: bei Eugen Diederichs, 1898, page 53.

¹ Webern: "du's"

Text Authorship:

by Ferdinand Avenarius (1856 - 1923), "Gebet", appears in Stimmen und Bilder, in Stimmungen [author's text checked 2 times 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 Anton von Webern (1883 - 1945), "Gebet", 1903-4 [voice and piano], from Drei Avenarius Lieder, no. 2, New York: Carl Fischer, Inc. MCMLXI [ sung text checked 2 times]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Prayer", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Prière", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: John Versmoren , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 61

Prayer

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Bear it, let pain cut sharply through
Your brain and burrow harshly through your heart --
That is the plow behind which the sower sows
So that wheat arises from the wounds of the earth.

Wheat that stills the hunger of the wretched soul --
With wheat, oh Father, bless my field:
Let your plow mercilessly tear its pathway,
But also throw seed into its furrows!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2018 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Ferdinand Avenarius (1856 - 1923), "Gebet", appears in Stimmen und Bilder, in Stimmungen
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-10-22
Line count: 8
Word count: 64