O mother, the young Prince is to pass by...

O mother, the young Prince is to pass by our door, --
how can I attend to my work this morning?
Show me how to braid up my hair; 
tell me what garment to put on.
Why do you look at me amazed, mother?
I know well he will not glance up once at my window; 
I know he will pass out of my sight in the twinkling of an eye; 
only the vanishing strain of the flute 
will come sobbing to me from afar.
But the young Prince will pass by our door, 
and I will put on my best for the moment.

O mother, the young Prince did pass by our door, 
and the morning sun flashed from his chariot.
I swept aside the veil from my face, 
I tore the ruby chain from my neck
and flung it in his path.
Why do you look at me amazed, mother?
I know well he did not pick up my chain; 
I know it was crushed under his wheels 
leaving a red stain upon the dust, 
and no one knows what my gift was nor to whom.
But the young Prince did pass by our door, 
and I flung the jewel from my breast before his path.

Translation(s): FRE GER GER ITA POL SPA

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Authorship

• by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in The Gardener, no. 7, first published 1913 [ author's text checked 1 time]

• a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941) [text unavailable]
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Arthur Koerner (1876 - 19??), "O mother, the young Prince is to pass by", 1917, from Spoken Songs, no. 3 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Jan Śliwiński (1884 - 1950) , appears in Der Gärtner, no. 7, first published 1916 ENG FRE ITA ITA POL ; composed by Willem de Haan, Karol Maciej Szymanowski, Alexander Zemlinsky.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ENG FRE ITA POL ; composed by Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ENG FRE GER POL ; composed by Franco Alfano.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz (1894 - 1980) ENG FRE GER ITA ; composed by Karol Maciej Szymanowski.
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• Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by Zenobia Camprubí Aymar (c1887 - 1956) , appears in Obras de Rabindranath Tagore: El jardinero, first published 1917 ENG FRE GER ITA POL ; composed by Juan José Castro.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Ô mère, le jeune Prince doit passer", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2010-11-05 00:00:00.

Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:02

Line count: 23
Word count: 207

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