Wir sprachen, wie es Mädchen tun | Wir sprachen, wie es Mädchen tun

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

We talked as Girls do

Language: English

Our translations: GER

We talked as Girls do --
Fond, and late --
We speculated fair, on every subject, but the Grave --
Of ours, none affair --

We handled Destinies, as cool --
As we -- Disposers -- be --
And God, a Quiet Party
To our Authority --

But fondest, dwelt upon Ourself
As we eventual -- be --
When Girls to Women, softly raised
We -- occupy -- Degree --

We parted with a contract
To cherish, and to write
But Heaven made both, impossible
Before another night.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Further poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1929 [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 Russell Smith (b. 1927), "We talked as Girls do" [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from Three Songs from Emily Dickinson [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Wir sprachen, wie es Mädchen tun", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-06-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 74

Wir sprachen, wie es Mädchen tun

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Wir sprachen, wie es Mädchen tun,
innig unter uns und lang,
sannen über alles, nur das Grab 
war niemals von Belang.

Bestimmten kühl der Menschen Los,
als wär’n die Lenker wir,
und Gott stiller Teilhaber bloß
in unserem Betrieb.

Am liebsten doch ging’s über uns,
und was wir könnten sein,
und welchen Rang, gereift zur Frau, 
wir wohl dann nähmen ein.

Dass wir uns schreiben, wir uns treu,
beim Geh’n ward’s abgemacht -
der Himmel sprach dagegen ein,
noch eh es wurde Nacht.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 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 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Further poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1929
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 82