German (Deutsch) translation of Fireflies

by Ralph D'Mello (b. 195?), "Fireflies", 1999 [ tenor or baritone and clarinet ], from Tagore Songs, no. 2

Note: this is a translation of one multi-text setting.

Memory, the priestess,
kills the present
and offers its heart to the shrine of the dead past.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
The soil in return for her service
keeps the tree tied to her,
the sky asks nothing and leaves it free.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Author(s): Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Erinnerung, die Priesterin,
die Gegenwart dem Tode weiht
und deren Herz darbringt auf dem Altar toter Vergangenheit.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 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.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


Als Dank für ihre Dienste 
bindet die Erde den Baum an sich.
Der Himmel verlangt nichts und lässt ihn frei.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 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.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


Translation © by Bertram Kottmann