Gott, inbrünstig möcht' ich beten,
Doch der Erde Bilder treten
Immer zwischen Dich und mich,
Und die Seele muss mit Grauen
Wie in einen Abgrund schauen,
Strenger Gott, ich fürchte Dich!
 
Ach so brich auch meine Ketten!
Alle Menschen zu erretten,
Giengst Du ja in bittern Tod.
Irrend an der Hölle Thoren,
Ach, wie bald bin ich verloren,
Hilfst Du nicht in meiner Noth.

Modernized spelling would change "Giengst" to "gingst", "Thoren" to "Toren", "Noth" to "Not"

Text Authorship:

• by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Gebet", appears in Gedichte, in 6. Geistliche Gedichte [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 Walter Courvoisier (1875 - 1931), "Gebet", op. 27 (Geistliche Lieder), Heft 5 (Trost - Einsamkeit) no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Erich J. Wolff (1874 - 1913), "Gebet", op. 14 (Vier Gedichte von Eichendorff) no. 1, published 1907 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English [singable] (John Bernhoff) , "Prayer"
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Prière", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-16
Line count: 12
Word count: 64