Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
I had a guinea golden; I lost it in the sand, And though the sum was simple, And pounds were in the land, Still had it such a value Unto my frugal eye, That when I could not find it I sat me down to sigh. I had a crimson robin Who sang full many a day, But when the woods were painted He, too, did fly away. Time brought me other robins, — Their ballads were the same, — Still for my missing troubadour I kept the 'house at hame.' I had a star in heaven; One Pleiad was its name, And when I was not heeding It wandered from the same. And though the skies are crowded, And all the night ashine, I do not care about it, Since none of them are mine. My story has a moral: I have a missing friend, — Pleiad its name, and robin, And guinea in the sand, — And when this mournful ditty, Accompanied with tear, Shall meet the eye of traitor In country far from here, Grant that repentance solemn May seize upon his mind, And he no consolation Beneath the sun may find.
Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896.
Note from the 1896 edition edited by Mabel Loomis Todd: — This poem may have had, like many others, a personal origin. It is more than probable that it was sent to some friend travelling in Europe, a dainty reminder of letter-writing delinquencies.
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "I had a guinea golden", appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 19 [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 Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "I had a guinea golden" [ soprano and piano ], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 1 : The Pensive Spring, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 36
Word count: 195
Ich hatt ’nen goldnen Taler, den ich verlor im Sand; wenn der Betrag auch klein war und Silbergeld im Land, war er für mich so wertvoll, zumal ich sparsam bin, dass ich, vergeblich suchend, mich seufzend setzte hin. Ich hatt ’ne rote Drossel*, die sang im höchsten Ton, doch als der Wald sich färbte da zog auch sie davon. Zeit bracht’ mir weitre Drosseln sie sangen gleich, durchaus, doch meiner ersten Drossel hielt ich offen stets mein Haus. Ich hatt ’nen Stern am Himmel, einen von sieben Stern’, als ich nicht auf ihn achtgab hat er sich leis entfernt. Trotz sternbesäter Himmel und nächt’gem Sternenschein, schert mich das überhaupt nicht, denn nichts davon ist mein. Was will ich damit sagen - ein Freund kam mir abhand’: mein Stern und meine Drossel, mein Goldtaler im Sand - Und wenn dies traurig Liedchen, begleitet von der Trän’, zu Ohren kommt, der treulos, den weit entfernt ich wähn’, so sei, dass tiefe Reue im Herzen er empfind’t, und unter dieser Sonne er keinen Trost mehr find’t.
About the headline (FAQ)
* robin = American robin ist die in Nordamerika heimische WanderdrosselText 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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "I had a guinea golden", appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 19
This text was added to the website: 2016-05-04
Line count: 36
Word count: 171