Man muss kein Zimmer sein - für Spuk und Geister

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

One need not be a chamber to be haunted

Language: English

Our translations: GER

One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.

Far safer, of a midnight meeting
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That cooler host.

Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase,
Than, moonless, one's own self encounter
In lonesome place.

Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror's least.

The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O'erlooking a superior spectre
More near.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891 [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 Donald Grantham (b. 1947), "One need not be a chamber to be haunted", published 1983 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Seven Choral Settings of Poems by Emily Dickinson [sung text not yet checked]
by Louise Juliette Talma (1906 - 1996), "One need not be a chamber to be haunted", 1941 [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 85

Man muss kein Zimmer sein ‑ für Spuk und...

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Man muss kein Zimmer sein - für Spuk und Geister, 
und ihnen auch kein Haus -
das Hirn hat weit mehr Korridore,  
als je erbaut.

Weit sichrer, einen Geist um Mitternacht
draußen zu sehn,
als jenes kältere Gespenst,
das in uns haust.

Weit sicherer in einer Spukabtei
grabsteingejagt,
als waffenlos zu stoßen auf sich selbst
und ganz allein.

Ein Ich, das selbst sich hinter sich versteckt
am meisten schreckt -
ein Mörder, der zuhause lauert,
uns nicht so schauert.

Der Körper holt wohl Waffen sich,
legt Riegel vor
und ignoriert den mächtigeren Spuk -
oder gar mehr -

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2018 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), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-04-20
Line count: 20
Word count: 93