You are so different | You are so different, you are so pale

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Du bist so fremd, du bist so bleich

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Du bist so fremd, du bist so bleich.
Nur manchmal glüht auf deinen Wangen
ein hoffnungsloses Heimverlangen
nach dem verlornen Rosenreich.

Dann sehnt dein Auge, tief und klar,
aus [allem]¹ Müssen, [allem]¹ Mühen
ins Land, wo nichts als stilles Blühen
die Arbeit deiner Hände war.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Móry

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Erste Gedichte, Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1923

¹ Móry: "allen"

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Advent, in Funde, no. 5 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (1892 - 1959), "Du bist so fremd", op. 56 no. 14 [ voice and piano ], from 27 Lieder zu Gedichte von R. M. Rilke, no. 14 [sung text not yet checked]
by Raoul Koczalski (1884 - 1948), "Du bist so fremd", op. 116 no. 3, published 1936 [ voice, piano ], from 4 Gedichte von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 3, Köln : Tischer & Jagenberg [sung text not yet checked]
by Heinrich Konietzny (1910 - 1983), "Du bist so fremd" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ján Móry (1892 - 1978), "Albumblatt", op. 15 (Sechs Lieder) no. 2 [ voice and piano ], Berlin: Verlag von Ries & Erler [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-10
Line count: 8
Word count: 47

You are so different

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

You are so different, you are so pale.
Only now and then, there glows upon your cheeks 
A hopeless longing for home,
For the lost realm of roses.

Then your eyes, deep and clear, yearn to be
Released from all compulsion, all toil,
[Released] into the land where the labour of your hands 
Was nothing but a quiet blossoming.

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.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Advent, in Funde, no. 5
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-12-01
Line count: 8
Word count: 59