by
Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956)
Fischreiche Wässer! Schönbäumige Wälder!
Language: German (Deutsch)
Fischreiche Wässer! Schönbäumige Wälder!
Birken- und Beerenduft!
Vieltöniger Wind, durchschaukelnd eine Luft
So mild, als stünden jene eisern Milchbehälter
Die dort vom weißen Gute rollen, offen!
Geruch und Ton und Bild und Sinn verschwimmt.
Der Flüchtling sitzt im Erlengrund und nimmt
Sein schwier'ges Handwerk wieder auf: das Hoffen.
Er achtet gut der schöngehäuften Ähre
Und starker Kreatur, die sich zum Wasser neigt
Doch derer auch, die Korn und Milch nicht nährt.
Er fragt die Fähre, die mit Stämmen fährt:
Ist dies das Holz, ohn das kein Holzbein wäre?
Und sieht ein Volk, das in zwei Sprachen schweigt.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• H. Eisler H. Eisler sets stanza 1
About the headline (FAQ)
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
View text with all available footnotes
Confirmed with Die Gedichte von Bertolt Brecht in einem Band, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1981 (Neunte Auflage 1997), page 822
Text Authorship:
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Sharon Krebs
[Senior Associate Editor]This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 98
Waters teeming with fish! Forests of...
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
Waters teeming with fish! Forests of beautiful trees!
The scent of birches and berries!
Wind of many sounds, rocking through an air
So mild, as if yonder iron milk canisters
That are rolling from the white estate, were standing open!
Scent and sound and image and meaning become blurred.
The refugee sits in the alder-grove and takes up
Again his difficult craft: Hoping.
He marks well the beautifully piled-up seed heads
And the strong creature that bends toward the water,
But also those whom wheat and milk do not nourish.
He asks the ferry boat that passes with logs:
Is this the wood without which there would be no peg-leg?
And sees a people who remain silent in two languages.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Translated titles:
"Finnische Landschaft" = "Finnish countryside"
"Frühling" = "Spring"
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.
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Based on:
Go to the general view
This text was added to the website: 2016-09-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 121
