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Ewiger Kreislauf

Translations © by Bertram Kottmann

Song Cycle by Steven Ebel

View original-language texts alone: Cycle eternal

1. Self knowledge
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Your hearts know in silence
 the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound
 of your heart's knowledge. 
You would know in words
 which you have always know in thought.
You would touch with your fingers
 the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.
Your soul must needs rise
 and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths 
 be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge 
 with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, 
 "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." 
Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

Text Authorship:

  • by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet

Go to the general single-text view

Note: this is a prose text. Line breaks were added arbitrarily.


by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931)
1. Selbsterkenntnis
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Eure Herzen wissen, ohne etwas zu sagen,
 um die Geheimnisse der Tage und der Nächte. 
Doch eure Ohren dürsten
 nach dem stummen Wissen eurer Herzen.
Ihr wollt in Worten wissen,
 was ihr unausgesprochen schon immer wisst. 
Ihr wollt mit Fingern
 an die Nacktheit eurer Träume rühren.
So soll es sein!
Der verborgene Urquell muss aus eurer Seele empor dringen
 und murmelnd dem Meere zufließen. 
Die Schätze eurer tiefsten Tiefe
 würden euch dann offenbar. 
Doch legt eure unerkannten Schätze nicht auf die Waage
und lotet die Tiefen eurer Erkenntnis nicht
 mit allen Mitteln aus!
Denn das Ich ist wie ein Meer, unendlich weit und unergründlich. 
Sagt nicht: „Ich habe die Wahrheit gefunden“, sagt vielmehr:
 „Ich habe eine Wahrheit gefunden“.
Sagt nicht: „Ich habe den Weg der Seele entdeckt“, 
sagt vielmehr: “Ich bin der Seele begegnet, als sie auf meinem Wege ging“. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2021 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2021-02-26
Line count: 21
Word count: 141

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
2. Pain
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Your pain is the breaking of the shell 
that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, 
that its heart may stand in the sun, 
so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder 
at the daily miracles of your life, 
your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, 
even as you have always accepted the seasons 
that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity 
through the winters of your grief.

Text Authorship:

  • by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet

Go to the general single-text view

Note: this is a prose text. Line breaks were added arbitrarily.


by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931)
2. Vom Schmerz
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Euer Schmerz ist das Brechen der Schale, 
die eure Einsicht umschließt.
So wie der Kern der Frucht zerbrechen muss, 
damit sein Inneres an Licht und Wärme kann, 
so müsst auch ihr den Schmerz erfahren.
Und könnte euer Innerstes täglich aufs Neue staunen 
über die Wunder unsres Lebens, 
empfändet ihr den Schmerz nicht weniger erstaunlich als die Freude.
Ihr würdet eure Stimmungswechsel akzeptieren, 
wie ihr immer schon die Jahreszeiten hingenommen habt, 
die über eure Felder gehn. 
Und mit Gelassenheit würdet ihr dann 
eure leid- und kummervolle Winterzeit durchschreiten. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2021 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2021-02-26
Line count: 13
Word count: 88

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
3. Death
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
You would know the secret of death. 
But how shall you find it
 unless you seek it in the heart of life?
For life and death are one,
 even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires
 lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; 
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow
 your heart dreams of spring. 
Trust the dreams, for in them
 is hidden the gate to eternity. 
For what is it to die but to stand naked
 in the wind and to melt into the sun? 
And what is to cease breathing,
 but to free the breath from its restless tides?
Only when you drink from the river of silence
 shall you indeed sing. 
And when you have reached the mountain top,
 then you shall begin to climb. 
And when the earth shall claim your limbs,
 then shall you truly dance.  

Text Authorship:

  • by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet

Go to the general single-text view

Note: this is a prose text. Line breaks were added arbitrarily.


by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931)
3.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ihr möchtet über das Geheimnis des Todes wissen. 
Aber wie wollt ihr ihm denn auf die Spur kommen,
 wenn ihr nicht mitten im Leben danach sucht? 
Denn Leben und Tod gehören zusammen,
 so wie Strom und Meer.
In den tiefsten Gründen eures Hoffens und Sehnens
 ruht stumm euer Wissen vom Jenseits. 
Und wie die Saat unter dem Schnee träumt,
 träumt euer Herz vom Frühling. 
Traut den Träumen, denn in ihnen findet ihr
 das verborgene Tor zur Ewigkeit.
Denn was ist Sterben anderes als nackt
 im Wind zu stehen und sich in der Sonne aufzulösen?
Und was ist der letzte Atemzug anderes
 als die Freiheit des Atems vom ruhelosen Auf und Ab?
Nur wenn ihr vom Strom der Stille trinkt,
 werdet ihr wahrlich singen.
Und wenn ihr den Gipfel erreicht habt,
 werdet ihr aufsteigen.
Und wenn die Erde euren Leib fordern wird,
 werdet ihr wahrhaft tanzen.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2021 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), appears in The Prophet
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2021-02-26
Line count: 21
Word count: 145

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
Gentle Reminder

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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