An ihrem Grabe kniet' ich festgebunden
Und senkte tief den Geist in's Todtenreich.
Zum Himmel reichte nicht mein Blick, es stunden
Des Wiedersehens Bilder fern und bleich.
Da so ich vorwärts Grauen nur gefunden,
Vergangne Tage, flüchtet' ich zu euch;
Ich ließ den Sarg des Grabes Nacht entheben,
Zurück sie tragen in das schöne Leben.

Schon huben sich die bleichen Augenlider,
Ihr Auge schmachtete zu mir empor;
Bald strebten auf die frischverjüngten Glieder,
Sie schwebte blühend in der Schwestern Chor;
Der Liebe goldne Stunden traten wieder,
Selbst mit des ersten Kusses Lust, hervor:
Bis sich verlor ihr Leben und das meine
In sel'ger Kindheit Duft und Morgenscheine.

Confirmed with Uhlands Werke, Erster Teil, Gedichte, ed. Adalbert Silbermann, Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., [no year], pages 101-102.

Text Authorship:

• by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862), "Rückleben", appears in Sonette, Oktaven, Glossen, in Oktaven [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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

• by Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Rückleben", op. 47 no. 3 (1900), published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Ludwig Uhland für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 3, Berlin, Fürstner [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Vida retrospectiva", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Living in the past", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Retour en arrière", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Alberto Pedrotti , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 107

By her grave bound fast, I kneeled
And sank my spirit deep down into the realm of the dead.
To heaven my gaze did not reach,
The images of reunion stood distant and pale.
Since when I looked before me, I only found dread,
I sought refuge in you, bygone days;
I let the coffin be raised from the night of the grave,
I let her be carried back into beautiful life.

Already the pale eyelids lifted,
Her eyes gazed languishingly up to me;
Soon the newly rejuvenated limbs strove upward,
She hovered, blooming, into the choir of her sisters;
The golden hours of love emerged again
Even with the rapture of the first kiss:
Until her life and mine lost themselves
In the blessed scents of childhood and the shining of morning.