I cannot sleep. The starlight

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by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Schlaflosigkeit

(Sung text for setting by P. Escher)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Ich kann nicht schlafen. Das Sternenlicht
Macht alle Fenster blau. Die Nacht
Schaut mir so furchtbar ins Gesicht
Und wacht, und wacht.

Die Stunden gehen ohne Sinn
Hinab, hinweg ins andere Land,
An dessen namenlosen Strand
Ich bald auch bin.

Morgen, morgen, da will mein Herz
Wieder leben und unbedacht
Sich erlaben an Lust und Schmerz
Bis in die Nacht.

Morgen, ach, da leb ich nicht mehr,
Da bin ich drüben am bleichen Strand;
Schlummer winkt mir von ferne her,
Vom anderen Land.

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Confirmed with Unterwegs. Gedichte von Hermann Hesse, München: Georg Müller Verlag, 1911, page 29. The poem has no title in this publication.

Composition:

Peter Escher

Fünf Lieder nach Hermann Hesse

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Schlaflosigkeit", written 1907, appears in Unterwegs, in Schlaflosigkeit, no. 2, first published 1911

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor], Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-04
Line count: 16
Word count: 85

Sleeplessness

(Sung text translation for setting by P. Escher)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I cannot sleep. The starlight
Is making all the windows blue.  The night
Is peering into my face so mercilessly,
And it watches, and watches.

The hours pass meaninglessly
Downward, away into the other land,
Where at its nameless shore
I, too, shall soon be.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, my heart wants
To live once more and heedlessly
Refresh itself with joy and pain
Until nightfall.

Tomorrow, ah, I shall no longer be living,
I shall be yonder at the pale shore;
Slumber is beckoning me from far away,
From the other land.

Translations of title(s):
"Schlaflosigkeit" = "Sleeplessness"
"Sternenlicht" = "Starlight"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 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), "Schlaflosigkeit", written 1907, appears in Unterwegs, in Schlaflosigkeit, no. 2, first published 1911
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This text was added to the website: 2021-05-17
Line count: 16
Word count: 93