Song | Take this my song

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by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Lied

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Nimm hin mein Lied --
Es ist nicht froh,
Der Regen weint und weint.
Und wer ihn sieht
Weiß sowieso,
Wie es das Glück gemeint.

Es ist vorbei
Die helle Zeit,
Die Lachen uns gelehrt.
Sie ging entzwei,
Zwiespalt gedeiht --
Wenn auch die Welt sich wehrt.

Kehrt sie zurück?
Ich weiß es nicht.
Vielleicht weiß es der Wind.
Er kennt das Glück,
Wenn's nicht zerbricht,
So sagt er's uns geschwind.

Doch sieh, der Wind
Verbirgt sich doch --
Er ist ja gar nicht da.
Ganz wie ein Kind,
So glaubt er noch:
Nur er weiß, was geschah.

Nimm hin mein Lied.
Vielleicht bringt es
Das Lachen einst zurück.
Und wer es liest,
Der sagt: Ich seh's,
Und meint damit das Glück.

Confirmed with Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, Blütenlese. Gedichte, Herausgegeben von Adolf Rauchwerger, Tel Aviv: Telaviv University [Press], 1979, page 53.

Text Authorship:

by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942), "Lied", written 1941, appears in Blütenlese, in Der Blütenlese Erster Teil, in Nachtschatten [author's text checked 2 times 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Yiddish (יידיש), a translation by Leibu Levin (1914 - 1983) , copyright © by Ruth Levin, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Leibu Levin.
- Go to the text.

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Song", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Bertram Kottmann , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2015-04-07
Line count: 30
Word count: 119

Song

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Take this my song --
It is not joyful,
The rain weeps and weeps.
And whoever sees it
Knows in any case
What happiness had in mind for us.

It is over,
The bright time
That taught us how to laugh.
It shattered,
Discord flourishes --
Though the world resists.

Shall [the bright time] return?
I do not know.
Perhaps the wind knows.
It knows happiness,
When happiness does not break,
Then [the wind] quickly tells us.

But see, the wind
Nonetheless hides itself --
For it is not even there.
Just like a child,
It still believes
That it alone knows what happened.

Take this my song.
Maybe it shall someday
Bring laughter back.
And whoever reads it
Shall say: I see it,
And by that means: happiness.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2024 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942), "Lied", written 1941, appears in Blütenlese, in Der Blütenlese Erster Teil, in Nachtschatten
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-06-18
Line count: 30
Word count: 126