by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Hundstage
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG
Wie nun am dürren Ginsterhang,
Im braunen Stein, im goldnen Staub,
Im gilbenden Akazienlaub
Der Sommer seinen Überschwang
Austobt und in sich selbst verbrennt!
Aus dürrer Schote knistern schwarze Kerne,
Und abends hängen schwer die Sterne 
Wie überreif am Firmament,
Das wie ein Puls im Fieber pocht
Und von verhaltnen Wettern kocht.
Wo eben noch in frohen Schauern
Das Leben feucht und spielend rann,
Keucht Sommer wütend hügelan
Der Höhe zu. Er will nicht dauern,
Er lechzt nach Rausch und Opferglück,
Ihn rief der Tod: auf hagrem Pferde
Jagt er voran und läßt die Erde 
Erschöpft, verblüht, verbrannt zurück. 

Und seufzend reckt sich Laub und Gras
Und raschelt hart und klirrt wie Glas.

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, pages 318-319.


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):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Canícula", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Dog days", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-08
Line count: 20
Word count: 113

Dog days
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Along the arid slope of gorse,
In brown rocks, in golden dust,
In the yellowing foliage of the acacias
How summer expends its ardour in a rioting
And burns up within itself!
Black kernels crackle forth from desiccated seed-pods 
And in the evening the stars hang heavily,
As if overripe, upon the firmament,
Which throbs like a feverish pulse
And seethes with suppressed storms.
Where only just in joyful thrilling
Life ran moistly and playfully,
Summer [now] pants furiously up the hill
Toward the pinnacle. It does not wish to last,
It thirsts for intoxication and the joy of sacrifice,
It was called by death: upon a scrawny steed
It races ahead and leaves the earth
Behind -- exhausted, faded, burned.

And, sighing, leaves and grass stretch
And rustle harshly and rattle like glass.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2018 by Sharon Krebs, (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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This text was added to the website: 2018-09-23
Line count: 20
Word count: 133