LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,109)
  • Text Authors (19,482)
  • 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 Heinrich Stieglitz (1801 - 1849)
Translation © by John H. Campbell, W. Kommer

Heiß glüht der Pfad; am frühen Tag
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
Heiß glüht der Pfad; am frühen Tag
War Melek schon zum Wege wach;
Nun zieht er lechzend im Mittagsbrand
Von Durst verfolgt durch den sengenden Sand.

Es heult die Hyäne, der Pardel brüllt,
Des Glutsands Strudel den Blick verhüllt: --
"Und trüg' ich's selbst auch länger noch,
Du treues Roß erlägst mir doch!"

Und höher der Wirbel [den Sand]1 aufwühlt,
Kein Labetrunk, kein Schatten kühlt;
Da blickt er zum Himmel, sein Auge fleht,
Die lechzende Lippe wird [Gebet]2 : --

"Der du die Gräser 
Tränkest mit Tau,
Der du in's Glutmeer starrenden Sandes 
Hast die Oase [gegossen]3,
Schenke Erquickung mir;
Wecker des Tags und der Nächte Hüter,
Nicht in dem Glutsand hier 
Laß mich verschmachten, des Lebens Gebieter!

"Horch! erfüllt nicht die Luft 
Wandernder Kata's Schaar? --
Ist er noch fern der Quell, 
Dem dürstend ihr entgegen zieht? --

"Auf, mit der Vögel Schwarm
Fliege, mein Roß! dort letzt 
Mit erquickender Kühlung
Uns der sprudelnde Labequell."

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Loewe 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Loewe: "den Staub"
2 Loewe: "zum Gebet"
3 Loewe: "hingegossen"

Text Authorship:

  • by Heinrich Stieglitz (1801 - 1849), "In der Wüste", appears in Bilder des Orients, first published 1833 [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 Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Melek in der Wüste", op. 10 (Wanderbilder aus Arabien), Heft 1 no. 3 (1833), published 1834 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (John H. Campbell) (W. Kommer) , "Melek in the desert", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 155

Melek in the desert
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The path glows fiery-hot; in the early hours of day
Melek was already awake for his journey;
Now in midday's heat, pursued by his thirst,
he walks on through the hot sand.

The hyena howls, the leopard roars,
The scorching sand swirls and occludes all sight: 
"And even if I could stand it longer,
You faithful horse will not bear much more!"

And higher the whirlwind churns up the dust,
No refreshing drink, no cool shadow.
He looks up to the sky, his eyes imploring,
The dry lips form a prayer:

"You, who fill 
the grass with dew,
who you have put the oasis here 
in the scorching sea of glaring sand,
Give me refreshment!  
Waker of the day and keeper of the nights,
Do not let me die here 
in the scorching sand, o master of life!

"Listen!  Does the air not fill 
wandering Kata's band?
Is the spring still far, 
that thirsting he contrarily pulls to?

"Come on!  with the birds swarm, 
fly, my steed! There 
the bubbling spring 
will refresh us!"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John H. Campbell and W. Kommer, (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 Heinrich Stieglitz (1801 - 1849), "In der Wüste", appears in Bilder des Orients, first published 1833
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 174

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