Die Spinne hält den Silber Ball

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Walter A. Aue

The Spider holds a Silver Ball

Language: English

Our translations: GER

The Spider holds a Silver Ball
In unperceived Hands --
And dancing softly to Himself
His Yarn of Pearl -- unwinds --

He plies from Nought to Nought --
In unsubstantial Trade --
Supplants our Tapestries with His --
In half the period --

An Hour to rear supreme
His [Continents]¹ of Light --
Then dangle from the Housewife's Broom --
His [Boundaries]² -- forgot --

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Langert

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Langert: "theories"
² Langert: "sophistries"

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody [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 Jules Langert (b. 1932), "The spider holds a silver ball", from Three Emily Dickinson Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 57

Die Spinne hält den Silber Ball

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Die Spinne hält den Silber Ball
in unerkannter Hand --
und, sanft im Tanze mit Sich Selbst,
Ihr Perlengarn -- entspannt --

Sie treibt, vom Nichts zum Nichts --
gewichtlos Ihr Geschäft:
Ihr'n Teppich, über dem von uns,
viel schneller Sie erschafft.

Ein Stündchen aufzubau'n
der Kontinente Licht --
dann hängt vom Besen einer Magd --
Ihr Grenzgebiet -- zunicht --

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Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2010 by Walter A. Aue, (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.
Walter A. Aue. Contact: waue (AT) dal (DOT) ca
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Based on:

a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 53