Lost sound | Once in days of childhood

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by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Verlorener Klang

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Einmal in Kindertagen
Ging ich die Wiese lang,
Kam still getragen
Im Morgenwind ein Gesang,
Ein Ton in blauer Luft,
Oder ein Duft, ein blumiger Duft,
Der duftete süß, der klang
Eine Ewigkeit lang,
Meine ganze Kindheit lang.

Es war mir nicht mehr bewußt --
Erst jetzt in diesen Tagen
Hör ich innen in der Brust
Ihn wieder verborgen schlagen.
Und jetzt ist alle Welt mir einerlei,
Will nicht mit den Glücklichen tauschen,
Will nur lauschen,
Lauschen und stillestehn,
Wie die duftenden Töne gehn,
Und ob es noch der Klang von damals sei.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• W. Stärk

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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 236.

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Verlorener Klang", written 1917, first published 1917 [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: 2009-05-20
Line count: 19
Word count: 94

Lost sound

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

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Once in days of childhood
I was walking along the meadow
In the morning wind, silently borne,
Quietly came a singing,
A tone in the blue air,
Or a scent, a flowery scent,
That smelled sweet, that sounded
Through an eternity,
Through my whole childhood.

I was no longer aware of it – 
Only now in these days
I hear within my breast
The sound ringing secretly.
And now the whole world is all the same to me,
I would not trade places with the happy ones,
I only wish to listen,
Listen and stand motionless,
To how the scented tones move,
And whether it is still the sound from back then.

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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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Verlorener Klang", written 1917, first published 1917
- Go to the text page.

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This text was added to the website: 2018-05-03
Line count: 19
Word count: 113