Now we will calmly tie the knot | Now we will calmly tie the knot

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by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Nun wollen wir uns still die Hände geben

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Nun wollen wir uns still die Hände geben
und vorwärts gehen, fromm, fast ohne Zagen,
und dieses größte Lebenswagnis wagen:
Zwei miteinander ganz verschlungne Leben.

Und wollen unermüdlich weiterweben
an den für uns nun völlig neuen Tagen
und jeden Abend, jeden Morgen fragen,
ob wir auch ganz ein Ringen und ein Streben.

Auch ganz ein unersättlich Langen, Dürsten,
im Maß des Körperlichen, das uns eigen,
uns immer geistiger emporzufürsten:

Daß wir wie eines Pfeiles Schaft am Schlusse,
ineinsverflochten und in einem Schusse,
ein neues Reich höhrer Geburt ersteigen.

Text Authorship:

by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), appears in Ich und Du, in Sonnette II [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 Walter Schulthess (1894 - 1971), "Nun wollen wir uns still die Hände geben", 1941-3, from Lieder nach Gedichten von Christian Morgenstern, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Now we will calmly tie the knot", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Nous voulons maintenant nous donner la main en silence", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-11-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 88

Now we will calmly tie the knot

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Now we will calmly tie the knot
And go forward, honestly and upright, almost without any timidity,
And take this greatest risk in life:
Two completely interlaced lives.

We will untiringly go on weaving the days
That are completely new to us,
And ask ourselves each night and morning
If we are in one accord with our striving.

And be in one accord with our innate
Insatiable craving and thirsting for each other,
And steadily ennoble ourselves mentally and spiritually:

So that we, in the end, like the shaft of an arrow
Of one piece and in a single shot
Rise to a new realm of better birth.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2004 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 German (Deutsch) by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), appears in Ich und Du, in Sonnette II
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2004-11-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 108