Ein Freund, der kühlt in hitz’ger Zeit

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

A shady friend for torrid days

Language: English

Our translations: GER

A shady friend for torrid days
Is easier to find
Than one of higher temperature
For frigid hour of mind.

The vane a little to the east
Scares muslin souls away;
If broadcloth breasts are firmer
Than those of organdy,

Who is to blame? The weaver?
Ah! the bewildering thread!
The tapestries of paradise
So notelessly are made!

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Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891 [author's text not yet checked 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 Robert F. Baksa (b. 1938), "A shady friend for torrid days", published 1977, from Emily Dickinson Songs, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, 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: 12
Word count: 58

Ein Freund, der kühlt in hitz’ger Zeit

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Ein Freund, der kühlt in hitz’ger Zeit,
wird eher dir zum Fund
als einer, der das Herz dir wärmt
in frost’ger Seelenstund.

Die Wetterfahne leicht gen Ost
schreckt Seelen aus Musselin;
wenn die aus Loden fester sind
als jene aus Batist,

verschuldet der Weber dies?
Das Garn ist’s, das verwirrt!
Gewebe aus dem Paradies
wird unbemerkt gewirkt.

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
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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: 2018-06-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 57