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by (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Ich sah des Sommers letzte Rose stehn
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Ich sah des Sommers letzte Rose stehn,
  Sie war, als ob sie bluten könne, rot;
Da sprach ich schauernd im Vorübergehn:
  So weit im Leben, ist zu nah am Tod!

Es regte sich kein Hauch am heißen Tag,
  Nur leise strich ein weisser Schmetterling;
Doch ob auch kaum die Luft sein Flügelschlag
  Bewegte, sie empfand es und verging.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   H. Gräbner •   P. Hindemith •   M. Kuile-Troxler •   E. Matthiesen 

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Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich Hebbel. Gesammt-Ausgabe stark vermehrt und verbessert, Stuttgart und Augsburg, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1857, page 163.


Text Authorship:

  • by (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863), "Sommerbild", appears in Gedichte, in 3. Vermischte Gedichte [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 61

Summer image
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Add this translation to your Reprint Basket | Add tr by P. Hindemith
I saw the Summer's last rose standing;
it was red, as if it could bleed;
then, shivering, I spoke in passing:
"To be so far in life is to be too near to death!"

Not one breeze stirred on that hot day;
only a white butterfly withdrew gently;
yet even though the beating of its wings hardly 
affected the air, the rose felt it and expired.

Available sung text translations:   ← What is this?

•   P. Hindemith 

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

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


Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863), "Sommerbild", appears in Gedichte, in 3. Vermischte Gedichte
    • Go to the text page.

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 69

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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