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The rain has held back for days and days, my God, in my arid heart. The horizon is fiercely naked - not the thinnest cover of a soft cloud, not the vaguest hint of a distant cool shower. Send thy angry storm, dark with death, if it is thy wish, and with lashes of lightning startle the sky from end to end. But call back, my lord, call back this pervading silent heat, still and keen and cruel, burning the heart with dire despair. Let the cloud of grace bend low from above like the tearful look of the mother on the day of the father's wrath.
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Text Authorship:
- by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 40, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 40 [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 106
Für lange Tage kam der Regen nicht, mein Gott, in mein verdorrtes Herz. Der Horizont ist unerbittlich blank - kein Dunst, kein Wölkchen ist zu sehn, nicht mal die Ahnung eines fernen kühlen Nass’. Schick, Herr, mir deines Sturmes Wut und Todesschwarz, so du dies willst, und schreck’ den Himmel auf mit deiner Blitze Peitsche von Horizont zu Horizont. Doch nimm von uns, Herr, diese schwere heiße Last, ruf sie zurück, die wortlos, stechend, grausam uns das Herz verbrennt mit Schrecken und Verzagen. Lass sie herab, die Wolke deiner Gnad' gleich einer Mutter tränenvollem Blick am Tag des väterlichen Zorns.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 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
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Based on:
- a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 40, first published 1912
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 40 [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2014-05-18
Line count: 15
Word count: 99