Letzte Bitte
Language: German (Deutsch)
Wenn du mich einstmals verlassen wirst,
Künd' es nicht vorher mir an.
Plötzlich tu's, so ist es geschehn,
Plötzlich sterbe ich dann.
Wenn dann mein Bildnis dir wiederkehrt,
Das du vor Zeiten geliebt,
Wenn es wie ein verdorrtes Blatt
Dir vom Baum der Erinnerung stiebt,
Hebe, ach hebe dann nicht den Fuss,
Stosse es nicht von dir fort,
Leise rauschend ertönen wird's
Wie ein verklungenes Wort.
Tätest du's ach, du tätest nicht recht,
Nimmer verdient' ich's um dich.
Wenden würd' ich mich tief ins Grab,
Weinen, weinen bitterlich.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Last plea", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2009-05-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 88
Last plea
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
When you someday shall leave me,
Do not announce it to me beforehand.
Suddenly do it, then it is done;
Suddenly then I shall die.
When then my image returns to you,
[The image] that you loved in former times,
When, like a withered leaf,
It drifts down from your tree of remembrance,
Lift, ah lift not your foot,
Do not thrust it from you;
Softly rustling, it shall sound
Like a word that has died away.
If you did it, ah, you would not do right;
I would never have deserved that from you;
Deep in my grave I would turn
[And] weep, weep bitterly.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2013 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:
This text was added to the website: 2013-10-25
Line count: 16
Word count: 106
