by Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (1815 - 1894)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Wie wenn im frost'gen Luftzug tödtlich
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE
Wie wenn im frost'gen Luftzug tödtlich
Des Sommers letzte Blüthe krankt,
Und hier und da nur, gelb und röthlich,
Ein einzles Blatt im Windhauch schwankt:

So schauert über mein Leben
Ein nächtig trüber, kalter Tag;
Warum noch vor dem Tode beben,
O Herz, mit deinem ew'gen Schlag?

Sieh rings entblättert das Gestäude!
Was spielst du, wie der Wind am Strauch,
Noch mit der letzten, welken Freude?
Gib dich zur Ruh! Bald stirbt sie auch.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Brahms •   H. Esser 

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Confirmed with Ein Münchner Dichterbuch, Herausgegeben von Emanuel Geibel, Stuttgart: Verlag von A. Kröner, 1862, [page 63].


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: 12
Word count: 76

Sensation of Autumn
NOTE: the footnotes have been removed from this text; return to general view
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Just as when, in a frosty, fatal breeze,
The summer's last blossoms fall sick,
And here and there, yellow and red,
A single leaf shakes in the breeze:

So does my life shiver from
A nightlike, gloomy, cold day;
Why tremble before death,
O heart, with your eternal pulse?

Look around at the leafless bushes!
Why do you still play, like the wind in the shrubs,
With the last, withered pleasures?
Go to your rest! Soon they will die too.

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Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 81