Und ringsum Schnee und Gletschereis
Und steile Berge Wand an Wand,
Dahinter traumhaft weit und weiss
Das tief verschneite Oberland.
Und langsam setz' ich Schuh um Schuh
Auf Fels und schneeverwehten Grund
Und wandere den Gletschern zu,
Die kurze Pfeife schräg im Mund.
Vielleicht daß dort fern aller Welt
Im blauen Licht von Eis und Mond
Der süße Friede der mir fehlt
Und Schlummer und Vergessen wohnt.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, pages 114-115.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Ascensió", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Ascent", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Ascension", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2009-05-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 67
And all around is snow and glacial ice
And steep mountains, face upon face,
Behind dreamily vast and white
The deeply snowed-in highlands.
And slowly I place shoe after shoe
Upon the rock and snow-blown ground
And wander toward the glaciers,
My short pipe slanted in my mouth.
Perhaps over there, far from all the world
In the blue light of ice and moon,
The sweet peace that I lack
And slumber and forgetting dwell.