Poor sisters, dear tribulations

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by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Arme Schwestern, liebe Schmerzen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Arme Schwestern, liebe Schmerzen,
Seid nicht ihr auch Gottesgaben?
Aber keiner will euch haben.
Wohnet denn in meinem Herzen!
 
Alle Lust der Welt zu haschen,
Gierig bin ich ausgezogen,
Kam geplündert, kam betrogen,
Müde heim mit leeren Taschen.
 
Die ich einst so sehr verachtet,
Liebe Schmerzen, seid gesegnet,
Die ihr mir so reich begegnet,
Mich so innig nun umnachtet!
 
Heiß durchflutet euer Glühen
Meines Blutes dunkle Wogen,
Die, von euch emporgesogen,
Tiefer atmen, schöner blühen.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Unger

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Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, page 309.

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Liebe Schmerzen", written 1927, first published 1927 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-05-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 79

Poor sisters, dear tribulations

NOTE: the footnotes have been removed from this text; return to general view

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Poor sisters, dear tribulations,
Are you not gifts from God as well?
But no one wants you.
Live then in my heart!

Greedily, I set out to grasp
All the joys of the world,
Plundered I came, deceived I came
Home wearily, with empty pockets.

You whom I once scorned so much,
Dear tribulations, blessed be,
You who have befallen me so abundantly,
Who so intimately shroud me now in night!

Your glowing fervently floods through
The dark waves of my blood,
Which, sucked upward by you,
Breathe more deeply, bloom more beautifully.

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Translations of title(s):
"Die Schmerzen" = "Tribulations"
"Liebe Schmerzen" = "Dear tribulations"

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), "Liebe Schmerzen", written 1927, first published 1927
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This text was added to the website: 2018-01-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 96