Song of praise | Love is like

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by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920)

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall

Lobgesang

(Sung text for setting by A. Mahler)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Wie das Meer
ist die Liebe:
unerschöpflich,
unergründlich,
unermeßlich:
Woge zu Woge
stürzend gehoben,
Woge von Woge
wachsend verschlungen,
sturm-und-wetter-gewaltig nun,
sonneselig nun,
willig nun dem Mond
die unaufhaltsame Fläche —
doch in der Tiefe
stetes wirken ewige Ruhe,
ungestört,
unentwirrbar dem irdischen Blick,
starr verdämmernd in gläsernes Dunkel —
und in der Weite
stetes Schweben ewiger Regung,
ungestillt,
unabsehbar dem irdischen Blick,
mild verschwimmend im Licht der Lüfte:
Aufklang der Unendlichkeit
ist das Meer,
ist die Liebe.

Composition:

Alma Mahler

Fünf Gesänge

Text Authorship:

by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Lobgesang"

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Song of praise", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant de louange", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 86

Song of praise

(Sung text translation for setting by A. Mahler)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Love is like 
the ocean,
Inexhaustible, 
unfathomable, 
vast:
Wave to wave, 
heaving and falling,
Wave to wave, 
surging and plunging,
Now powered by storm and weather,
Now blessed by sun, 
obedient to the moon
The interminable expanse.
Yet in the deeps there is
An eternal silence, 
undisturbed,
Inaccessible to terrestrial sight,
Motionless, condemned to glassy darkness.
And hovering in the distance
An eternal movement, 
unsubdued,
Immeasurable with terrestrial sight,
Gently blurred in the light of the atmosphere;
An echo of infinity
Is the ocean, 
is love.

Note: this translation is for Alma Mahler's version.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2011 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Lobgesang"
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This text was added to the website: 2011-01-21
Line count: 26
Word count: 86