Wintersonnwend
Language: German (Deutsch)
Den kurzen Tag umgab die lange Nacht.
Stumm fiel aus ihr die Hülle auf das Land.
Weiß breitet hin sich, was sie still gebracht.
Die Sonne legt darüber milde Hand.
Ein Vogel holt vom Fensterbrett das Brot,
Das ihm der Stube ernster Herr zerrieb.
Sein Fittich schwänzelt auf dem Schneesitz rot.
Zum Liebling ward dem Mann der kleine Dieb.
Und in der Stube Grund stieg Licht herein,
Wie tief es drüben sank ob Hügels Hang.
Mir an geweihter Wand vollzieht sein Schein
Des heiligen Gestirnes Wendegang.
Lang schwieg ich Euch und stumm blieb Melodie.
An Gottes Orgel hat der Freund gebaut.
O schweiget mit! So still war es noch nie.
Durchs Fenster locket leiser Zwitscherlaut.
Confirmed with Hans Heinrich Ehrler, Gesicht und Antlitz: Neue Gedichte, Gotha: Leopold Klotz Verlag, 1928, page 3.
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 (John Glenn Paton) , "Winter solstice", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: John Glenn Paton
[Guest Editor] , Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2016-05-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 115
Winter solstice
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
The short day was embraced by the long night.
Silently a shroud fell from it over the land.
Whiteness that it brought spreads out quietly.
The sun lays a gentle hand over it.
A bird fetches from the windowsill the bread
that the the room’s serious master crumbled for him.
On the snowy perch his wing wiggles red.
The little thief has become the man’s pet.
And light climbed far into the room,
as it sank lower over the brow of the hill.
On my dedicated wall its glow completes
the holy star’s reversing path.
I was silent toward you long, my melody silent.
Your friend has added onto God’s organ.
Be quiet with me! It has never been so still.
Through the window beckons a soft twittering.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by John Glenn Paton, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2016-05-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 128
