Four Songs of Calm

Song Cycle by Adam Taylor (b. 1981)

1. Sweet day  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridall of the earth and skie:
The dew shall weep thy fall to night;
                                    For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue angrie and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye:
Thy root is ever in its grave
                                    And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet dayes and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My musick shows ye have your closes,
                                    And all must die.

Onely a sweet and vertuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
                                    Then chiefly lives.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Du bist die Ruh  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Du bist die Ruh,
Der Friede mild,
Die Sehnsucht du,
Und was sie stillt.

Ich weihe dir
[Voll]1 Lust und Schmerz
Zur Wohnung [hier]2
Mein Aug' und Herz.

Kehr' [ein bei mir]3,
Und schließe du
Still hinter dir
Die [Pforten]4 zu.

Treib andern Schmerz
Aus dieser Brust.
Voll sey dies Herz
[Von]5 deiner Lust.

Dies Augenzelt
Von deinem Glanz
Allein erhellt,
O füll' es ganz.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Jij bent de rust", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Geart van der Meer) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Lynn Thompson) , "You are peace, the mild peace", copyright © 1997, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Thou art repose", first published 193-?
  • ENG English [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "You are my rest", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "You are my rest", written 2010, copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Tu es le repos", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRI Frisian (Geart van der Meer) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Max Mader) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Tu sei la pace", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • POR Portuguese (Português) (Alexandre Trovon) , "Tu és o repouso", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Lourdes Leon) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Oestliche Rosen von Friedrich Rückert. Drei Lesen. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. 1822, pages 125-126; and with Gesammelte Gedichte von Friedrich Rückert. Vierter Band. Erlangen, Verlag von Carl Heyder. 1837, pages 107-108.

Note: The poem was first published 1822 in Rückert's Oestliche Rosen where all the poems have no titles. In subsequent editions (Erlangen, 1837: Gesammelte Gedichte, Frankfurt a. M., 1868: Gesammelte Poetische Werke) this poem got the title Kehr' ein bei mir!

1 Karg-Elert: "In"
2 Hohfeld: "dir" (typo?)
3 Curschmann: "bei mir ein"
4 Rufinatscha: "Pforte"
5 Curschmann: "Voll"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Melanie Trumbull , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

3. Schlafen, Schlafen  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Schlafen, Schlafen, nichts als Schlafen!
  Kein Erwachen, [keinen Traum!]1
Jener Wehen, die mich trafen,
  Leisestes Erinnern kaum,
Daß ich, wenn des Lebens Fülle
  Niederklingt in meine Ruh',
Nur noch tiefer mich verhülle,
  Fester zu die Augen thu'!

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

  • ENG English (Jakob Kellner) , "To sleep, to sleep, nothing but to sleep!", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À la douleur son dû", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dormire, dormire, null'altro che dormire", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich Hebbel. Gesammt-Ausgabe stark vermehrt und verbessert, Stuttgart und Augsburg, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1857, page 277.

1 Schoeck: "kein Traum"

Researcher for this page: Jakob Kellner

4. Schlafend trägt man mich  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Schlafend trägt man mich
in mein Heimatland.
Ferne komm' ich her,
über Gipfel, über Schlünde,
über ein dunkles Meer
in mein Heimatland.

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

  • ENG English (Jakob Kellner) , "Sleeping, I am carried", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "En dormant, je suis emporté", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Addormentato mi portano", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Confirmed with Alfred Mombert, Der Glühende, zweite veränderte Auflage, J.C.C.Bruns, Minden i.W., 1902, page 65.


Research team for this page: Jakob Kellner , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
Total word count: 230