When suddenly into the light of your life

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Justinus (Andreas Christian) Kerner (1786 - 1862)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Wenn plötzlich in dein Lebenslicht

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Wenn plötzlich in dein Lebenslicht
Die finsterste der Nächte bricht,
Du nicht begreifst, woher sie kommt,
Du nicht begreifst, zu was sie frommt,
Dich tiefer Gram macht sprachlos stumm,
Tröst' dich der Spruch:  "Gott weiß warum."

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with: Kerners Werke, Zweiter Teil, Gedichte, ed. Raimund Pissin, Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., 1914, page 372.

Text Authorship:

by Justinus (Andreas Christian) Kerner (1786 - 1862), "Gott weiß warum", appears in Winterblüten [author's text checked 1 time 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 H. W. Egel , "Wenn plötzlich in dein Lebenslicht", op. 2 (Drei ernste Sprüche) no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Gott weiß warum", 1984, unpublished [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-16
Line count: 6
Word count: 36

When suddenly into the light of your...

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

When suddenly into the light of your life
The darkest of nights falls,
You do not understand whence it came,
You do not understand what purpose it is to serve,
Deep sorrow makes you speechless, mute,
Then take comfort in the maxim: “God knows why.”

About the headline (FAQ)

Translated titles:
"Wenn plötzlich in dein Lebenslicht" = "When suddenly into the light of your life"
"Gott weiß warum" = "God knows why"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2015 by Sharon Krebs, (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 German (Deutsch) by Justinus (Andreas Christian) Kerner (1786 - 1862), "Gott weiß warum", appears in Winterblüten
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-01-26
Line count: 6
Word count: 45