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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

If thou speakest not
Language: English  after the Bangla (Bengali) 
Our translations:  GER
If thou speakest not
I will fill my heart with thy silence
and endure it.
I will keep still
and wait like the night
with starry vigil 
and its head bent low with patience.
The morning will surely come,
the darkness will vanish,
and thy voice pour down
in golden streams
breaking through the sky.
Then thy words will take wing
in songs from every one
of my birds' nests,
and thy melodies
will break forth
in flowers in all
my forest groves.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 19, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 19 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Margaret Carter Metcalf (d. 1957), "If thou speakest not ", 1921 [ high voice and piano ], from Four Poems, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Michael John Trotta (b. 1978), "I will keep still", published 2012 [ satb chorus a cappella ], Carl Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Beloved - If you speakest not", 1999 [ SATB chorus and string quartet ], from The Golden Harp, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by André Gide (1869 - 1951) , no title, appears in Gitanjali (L'Offrande lyrique), no. 19, first published 1914 ; composed by Jean-Émile-Paul Cras.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Washington Castro.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Andrea Butenschön (1866 - 1948) , first published 1915 ; composed by Edvin Kallstenius.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SWE Swedish (Svenska) (Andrea Butenschön) , first published 1915


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-17
Line count: 19
Word count: 83

Wenn Du nicht sprichst
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Wenn Du nicht sprichst,
füll ich mein Herz mit deinem Schweigen
und dulde es.
Ich halte still
und harre wie der Nacht
gestirnte Wacht,
geduldig tief gebeugten Haupts.
Der Morgen kommt gewiss,
die Dunkelheit wird weichen,
und deine Stimme wird
vom Himmel
golden strömen.
Dann werden deine Worte sich
von jedem Nest
als Lied erheben
und deine Melodien
werden neu
in jedem Hain
erblühen.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 19, first published 1912
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 19 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2014-03-12
Line count: 19
Word count: 64

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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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