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In meine Stille kamst du leise wandelnd, Du Freundlicher! du kamst nicht unverhofft, Fernher vernahm ich wohl dein Wiederkehren, Schöner Tag! und nahe seid auch ihr Mir wieder, seid wie sonst, ihr Glücklichen, Ihr irrelosen Bäume meines Hains! O innige Natur! wie ist's denn nun? Vertrauert? bin ich ganz allein? Und es ist Nacht hier außen auch am Tage? Der höher denn ein sterblich Auge sah, Der Blindgeschlagne tastet nun umher -- Wo seid ihr, meine Götter? Weh, Laßt ihr nun wie einen Bettler mich? Ich habe mich erkannt, ich will es! Luft Will ich mir schaffen und tagen soll's! Hinweg! Bei meinem Stolz! Ich werde nicht Den Staub der Pfade küssen, wo ich einst In einem schönen Traume ging -- es ist vorbei Und Abschied muß ich nehmen. Weh! einsam! einsam! einsam! Und nimmer find ich Euch, meine Götter, Und nimmer kehr ich Zu deinem Leben, Natur! Dein Geächteter! Weh! hab ich doch auch Dein nicht geachtet, dein Mich überhoben, und ist Nirgend denn ein Rächer, muß ich denn allein Den Hohn und Fluch in meine Seele sagen, Muß einsam sein?
Text Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), appears in Der Tod des Empedokles [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 Hermann Reutter (1900 - 1985), "Monolog I", 1971 [ baritone and orchestra or piano ], from Drei Monologe des Empedokles, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , "Monologue I", first published 2009, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 180
Into my silence you've come quietly roving, friendly one! You were not unhoped for -- from afar I perceived your return, beautiful day! and nearby also are you, as once you were, you happy ones, you unchanging trees of my grove! O intimate Nature! what is it now? Mourning? Am I all alone? and is it night out here, even by day? He who saw higher than any mortal eye, now struck blind, gropes about -- where are you, my gods? Alas, will you now leave me a beggar? I know myself, I will it! Let there be air about me and let there be day! Away! By my pride! I will not kiss the dust of the path where I once walked in a beautiful dream -- it is gone, and I must take my leave. Alas, alone! alone! alone! And never will I find you, my gods, and never will I return to your life, Nature! Your outcast! Alas! even if I also have paid no heed to you, thought myself superior to you, and if there is no avenger anywhere, must I alone pronounce curses within my own soul, must I be so alone?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John Glenn Paton, (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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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), appears in Der Tod des Empedokles
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 194