by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
Translation © by Salvador Pila

I felt a funeral in my brain
 (Sung text for setting by A. Copland)
 See original
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT FRE GER GER ITA
I felt a funeral in my brain,
  And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
  That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
  A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
  My mind was going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box,
  And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
  Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
  And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
  Wrecked, solitary, here.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Note: a later edition removes the word "again" from stanza 3, line 3 and adds the following stanza to the end: 

And then a plank in reason, broke,
And I dropped down and down —
And hit a world at every plunge,
And finished knowing — then —

Composition:

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 92

Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap
 (Sung text translation for setting by A. Copland)
 See original
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English 
Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap,
i els acompanyants del dol, d’una banda a l’altra,
caminaven sense parar fins que em semblà
que estava perdent els sentits.

I quan tots ells segueren,
un ofici com un timbal
batia sense parar fins que vaig pensar
que l’enteniment se m’entumiria.

I llavors vaig sentir com aixecaven una caixa
i em travessaven l’ànima amb els cruixits
d’aquelles mateixes botes de plom.
Aleshores l’espai començà a repicar

com si tot el cel fossin campanes,
i l’existència fos només una orella,
i jo i el silenci, una raça estranya,
enrunada, solitària, aquí.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Note: here is a translation of the stanza added to the end of a later edition 

Llavors una biga del meu enteniment es trencà
i jo queia, queia avall, avall –
i a cada esfondrament topava contra un món,
i vaig acabar perdent el coneixement – llavors –

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (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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This text was added to the website: 2016-03-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 98