Nun liegt die Welt in Scherben,
Einst liebten wir sie sehr,
Nun hat für uns das Sterben
Nicht viele Schrecken mehr.

Man soll die Welt nicht schmähen,
Sie ist so bunt und wild,
Uralte Zauber wehen
Noch immer um ihr Bild.

Wir wollen dankbar scheiden
Aus ihrem großen Spiel;
Sie gab uns Lust und Leiden,
Sie gab uns Liebe viel.

Leb wohl, Frau Welt, und schmücke
Dich wieder jung und glatt,
Wir sind von deinem Glücke
Und deinem Jammer satt.

[The]1 world lies shattered,
We once loved her very much,
Now her dying no longer
Elicits much dread in us.

One should not revile the world,
She is so colourful and wild,
Ancient charms still waft
About her image.

Let us in gratitude depart
From her great game;
She gave us joy and sorrows,
She gave us much love.

Farewell, Madame World, and adorn
Yourself anew, young and unwrinkled,
We have had enough of your
Happiness and of your misery.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2018 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 Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Leb wohl, Frau Welt", written 1944
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Translations of title(s):
"Leb wohl, Frau Welt" = "Farewell, Madame World"
"Nun liegt die Welt in Scherben" = "Now the world lies shattered"

¹ Fleischer: "Now the"

This text was added to the website: 2018-05-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 81

Auch zu mir kommst du einmal,
Du vergißt mich nicht,
Und zu Ende ist die Qual
Und die Kette bricht.

Noch erscheinst du fremd und fern,
Lieber Bruder Tod.
Stehest als ein kühler Stern
Über meiner Not.

Aber einmal wirst du nah
Und voll Flammen sein --
Komm, Geliebter, ich bin da,
Nimm mich, ich bin dein.

To me as well you shall someday come,
You shall not forget me,
And the agony shall be at an end
And the chain shall break.

Now you still seem strange and distant,
Dear Brother Death.
You stand like a cold star
Above my misery.

But someday you shall be near me
And full of flames --
Come, beloved, I am here,
Take me, I am yours.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 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 Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Bruder Tod", written 1918, first published 1920
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Translations of title(s):
"Auch zu mir" = "To me as well"
"Der Wanderer an den Tod aus " = "The wanderer addressing death from “Wandering”"
"Der Wanderer auf den Tod" = "The wanderer speaking about death"
"Der Wanderer an den Tod" = "The wanderer addressing death"
"Der Wanderer an den Mond" = "The wanderer addressing the moon"
"Bruder Tod" = "Brother Death"
"An den Tod" = "To death"
"Auch zu mir kommst Du einmal" = "To me as well you shall someday come"
"Wanderer an den Tod" = "Wanderer addressing death"

This text was added to the website: 2017-04-19
Line count: 12
Word count: 66

Holder Schein, an deine Spiele
Sieh mich willig hingegeben;
Andre haben Zwecke, Ziele,
Mir genügt es schon, zu leben.

Gleichnis will mir alles scheinen,
Was mir je die Sinne rührte,
Des Unendlichen und Einen,
Das ich stets lebendig spürte.

Solche Bilderschrift zu lesen,
Wird mir stets das Leben lohnen,
Denn das Ewige, das Wesen,
Weiß ich in mir selber wohnen.

Lovely gleam, to your playing
See me willingly offer myself up;
Others have purposes, goals,
For me it is enough just to live.

Everything that ever moved my senses
Seems to me a metaphor
Of the Infinite and Unique,
Which I ever vividly perceived.

To read such imagery
Shall always make life worthwhile to me;
For I know the Eternal, the Being,
Lives within me.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 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 Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Bekenntnis", written 1918
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Translations of title(s):
"Holder Schein, an deine Spiele" = "Lovely gleam, to your playing"
"Bekenntnis" = "Confession"

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 65

Wer den Weg nach innen fand,
Wer in glühndem Sichversenken
Je der Weisheit Kern geahnt,
Daß sein Sinn sich Gott und Welt
Nur als Bild und Gleichnis wähle:
Ihm wird jedes Tun und Denken
Zwiegespräch mit seiner eignen Seele,
Welche Welt und Gott enthält.

He who has found the way inward,
Who, in ardent self-submersion,
Ever sensed the core of wisdom,
That his spirit chooses
God and the world only as an image and a parable:
For him every deed and pondering
Becomes a dialogue with his own soul,
Which encloses world and God.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2019 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 Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Weg nach Innen", written 1918
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Translations of title(s):
"Wer den Weg nach innen fand" = "He who has found the way inward"
"Weg nach Innen" = "The way inward"

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 50

Solang du nach dem Glücke jagst,
Bist du nicht reif zum Glücklichsein
Und wäre alles Liebste dein.

Solang du um Verlornes klagst
Und Ziele hast und rastlos bist,
Weißt du noch nicht, was Friede ist.

Erst wenn du jedem Wunsch entsagst,
Nicht Ziel mehr, noch Begehren kennst,
Das Glück nicht mehr mit Namen nennst,

Dann reicht dir des Geschehens Flut
Nicht mehr ans Herz, und deine Seele ruht.

If luck you chase, you have not grown
enough for happiness to stay,
not even if you get your way.

If, what you lost, you still bemoan,
and grasp at tasks, and dash and dart,
you have not known true peace at heart.

But if no wishes are your own,
and you don't try to win the game,
and Lady Luck is just a name,

then tides of life won't reach your breast --
and all your strife and all your soul will rest.

Text Authorship:

• Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English 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 German (Deutsch) by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Glück", written 1907
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This text was added to the website: 2010-03-26
Line count: 11
Word count: 83

Auf der Strasse und in allen Fabriken
Hinter den neidischen trostlosen Mauern
Schnurren dumm und tückisch die vielen Maschinen,
Singen das Fabrikantenlied vom Geldverdienen.
Es wird nicht lange dauern,
Dann werden die Autos noch böser aus ihren Grellaugen blickten,
Noch lauter und wüster aus ihren Hupen brüllen,
Die Luft noch dichter mit Staub und Dampf
Und unsre Herzen noch dichter mit Haß erfüllen,
Und dann geht es los, dann endlich beginnt der Kampf!
 
Wütend greifen uns an die Maschinen,
Drücken uns brüllend an die zementenen Wände,
Rennen uns um, überfahren uns Köpfe und Hände,
Sind stark wie der Teufel, doch wehe ihnen!
Sie bestehen ganz und gar aus Verstand,
Das macht dumm und flach, es fehlt diesem Vieh
Ganz an Torheit und Liebe, an Traum, Musik, Phantasie!
Gleich ihren Schöpfern und Herren kommen sie
Viel zu happig und schnell und witzlos dahergerannt,
Und das wird ihr Verderben.
 
Bald haben wir Menschen die Oberhand,
Und die ganze verfluchte Mechanik muß sterben.
Maschinen, Rechenschieber und Fabrikanten,
Wir schlagen sie alle in Fetzen und Scherben,
In ihren eigenen Rädern krepieren die klugen Erfinder,
Werden zertrampelt vom sterbenden Elefanten.
Singend bleiben übrig wir Menschenkinder,
Pflanzen Bäume über den öden Ruinen,
Tanzen noch lang auf dem Grab der dummen Maschinen.

Upon the streets and in all the factories
Behind the envious bleak walls
The many machines purr inanely and insidiously;
They sing the factory-song about making money.
It shall not be long,
Then the automobiles shall gaze even more malevolently from their glaring eyes,
Shall holler even more loudly and wildly from their horns,
Shall fill the air even more thickly with dust and steam
And fill our hearts even more thickly with hate,
And then it shall get going, then finally the battle shall begin!
 
Furiously the machines shall attack us,
Yelling they shall press us against the concrete walls,
Run us over, run over our heads and hands;
They are as strong as the devil, but woe to them!
They consist utterly of reason.
That makes them stupid and shallow; these brutes are completely lacking
In foolishness and love, in dreams, music, imagination!
Just like their creators and lords they come
A-running much too heftily and quickly and witlessly,
And that shall be their downfall.
 
Soon we humans shall have the upper hand
And the whole cursed mechanical realm must perish.
Machines, slide rules and manufacturers,
We shall pound them all to rags and smithereens,
In their own cogs the clever inventors shall croak,
Shall be trampled by the dying elephant.
Singing, we human beings shall remain,
Shall plant trees over the desolate ruins,
Shall dance for a long while yet upon the grave of the stupid machines.

Text Authorship:

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 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 Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Die Maschinenschlacht", written 1926
  • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

Translated titles:
"Die Maschinenschlacht" = "The battle of the machines"
"Maschinenschlacht" = "Battle of the machines"

This text was added to the website: 2016-08-15
Line count: 29
Word count: 240