Celui que j'entoure de mon nom pleure dans ce donjon

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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

He whom I enclose with my name is...

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: FRE GER

He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. 
I am ever busy building this wall all around; 
and as this wall goes up into the sky day by day 
I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow.

I take pride in this great wall, 
and I plaster it with dust and sand 
lest a least hole should be left in this name; 
and for all the care I take 
I lose sight of my true being.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 29, 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), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 29 [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 Raymond Murray Schafer (b. 1933), "Gitanjali no. 29", 1962 [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and women's chorus ], from Four Songs on Texts by Tagore, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 9
Word count: 83

Celui que j'entoure de mon nom pleure...

Language: French (Français) after the English

Celui que j'entoure de mon nom pleure dans ce donjon.
Je suis toujours occupé à construire ce mur tout autour ;
et tandis que ce mur monte vers le ciel jour après jour,
je perds de vue mon essence véritable dans son ombre sombre.

Je suis fier de ce grand mur,
et je l'enduis de poussière et de sable
de peur que le moindre défault ne subsiste dans ce nom ;
et avec tout le soin que je prends,
je perds de vue ma propre essence.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (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 English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 29, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 29 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-06-29
Line count: 9
Word count: 84