German (Deutsch) translations of Three Sonnets from the Portuguese, opus 15
by Hubert du Plessis (b. 1922)
Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore Alone upon the threshold of my door Of individual life, I shall command The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand Serenely in the sunshine as before, Without the sense of that which I forbore... Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine With pulses that beat double. What I do And what I dream include thee, as the wine Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue God for myself, He bears that name of thine, And sees within my eyes, the tears of two.
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 6
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Weiche, geh. Doch fühl' ich, dass von nun an ich im Schatten deiner steh'. Nimmermehr werd' ich in meiner Welt, so wie bisher, allein mit meiner Seele sein. Fortan nicht mehr gelassen heben auf die Hand ins Licht der Sonne grüßend, wie zuvor, ohne zu spür'n, dass deine ich verlor. Und wenn das Schicksal, wenn das weit'ste Land uns trennt, dein Herz find' sich in meinem ein: sie schlagen doppelt mir. Was ich verricht' und träum', es schließt dich ein, so wie der Wein die Wesenheit der Beere trägt. Und bitt' ich Gott um mich, so klingt dein Name drein, gleich wie die Träne doppelt mir ins Auge tritt.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2007 by Bertram Kottmann, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in English by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 6
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This text was added to the website: 2007-02-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 109
Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart! Unlike our uses and our destinies. Our ministering two angels look surprise On one another, as they strike athwart Their wings in passing. Thou, bethink thee, art A guest for queens to social pageantries, With gages from a hundred brighter eyes Than tears [even]1 can make mine, to ply thy part Of chief musician. What hast thou to do With looking from the lattice-lights at me, A poor, tired, wandering singer, … singing through The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree? The chrism is on thine head, — on mine, the dew, — And Death must dig the level where these agree.
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 3, first published 1847
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with A Book of Women’s Verse, ed. by J. C. Squire. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921; Bartleby.com, 2011. www.bartleby.com/291/104.html
1 Morawetz: "ever"Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife Shut in upon itself and do no harm In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm, And let us hear no sound of human strife After the click of the shutting. Life to life -- I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm, And feel as safe as guarded by a charm Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife Are weak to injure. Very whitely still The lilies of our lives may reassure Their blossoms from their roots, accessible Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer; Growing straight, out of man's reach, on the hill. God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 24, first published 1847
See other settings of this text.