by
James Joyce (1882 - 1941)
I heard their young hearts crying
Language: English
Our translations: FRE GER
I heard their young hearts crying
Loveward above the glancing oar
And heard the prairie grasses sighing:
No more, return no more!
O hearts, O sighing grasses,
Vainly your loveblown bannerets mourn!
No more will the wild wind that passes
Return, no more return.
About the headline (FAQ)
First published in the
Saturday Review, September 1913
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Stanley Richard Bate (1913 - 1959), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", published 1951 [ low voice and piano ], from Five Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from The Joyce Book, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Brian Boydell (1917 - 2000), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", 1936 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robin Field (b. 1935), "I heard their young hearts crying", 1967 [ tenor, oboe, and string quartet ], from The sly reeds whisper [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Gruen (b. 1927), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Geert van Keulen (b. 1943), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", 1943, published 1984, rev. 1984 [ soprano, flute (alto flute and piccolo), clarinet (bass clarinet), violin, contrabass, harp, vibraphone (tam-tam), mandolin, and guitar ], from Trieste, or Three Poems by James Joyce, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "En regardant les yoles à San Sabba", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Betrachtung der Ruderer vor San Sabba", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 39
Betrachtung der Ruderer vor San Sabba
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Ich hört’ die jungen Herzen schrei’n
nach Liebe, über der Ruder Musik,
ich hört’ die Prairiegräser seufzen:
nie mehr, nie mehr kehrt sie zurück!
Ach Herzen, ach du seufzend Gras,
vergeblich trauern eure Fähnlein, von der Liebe Wind zerzaust!
Nie wieder kehrt der wilde Wind, der euch umbraust,
nie mehr kehrt er zurück.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
- a text in English by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Watching the needleboats at San Sabba", written 1912, appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 2
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 53