In Sand geschrieben | Hier kehrte sie zum Staube wieder

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by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Inscription sur le sable

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG GER

Toute, avec sa robe et ses fleurs,
Elle, ici, redevint poussière,
Et son âme emportée ailleurs
Renaquit en chant de lumière.

Mais un léger lien fragile
Dans la mort brisé doucement,
Encerclait ses tempes débiles
D'impérissables diamants.

En signe d'elle, à cette place,
Seules, parmi le sable blond,
Les pierres éternelles tracent
Encor l'image de son front.

Celui que les dieux ont conduit, 
Qui sur sa route les a vues. 
S'arrête et contemple ébloui 
Cette splendeur qu'il croit perdue. 

Perdue ! Et des rayons s'y posent ! 
Ô voyageur, tu ne sais pas 
Le sens mystérieux des choses ; 
Elle, seule, ne le fut pas.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Fauré

G. Fauré sets stanzas 1-3

Confirmed with van Lerberghe, Charles, Entrevisions, suivi de Poèmes posthumes, Paris, G. Crès, 1923, pages 26-27.

Text Authorship:

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Inscription sur le sable", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 10, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Inscription sur le sable", op. 106 no. 8 (1914), published 1915, stanzas 1-3 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le jardin clos, no. 8, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Inscripció a la sorra", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pieter van der Woel) , "Letters in het zand", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (David Arkell) , "Inscription on the sand", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "In Sand geschrieben", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Didier Pelat

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 102

In Sand geschrieben

Language: German (Deutsch) after the French (Français)

Hier kehrte sie zum Staube wieder,
und mit ihr Blüten und Gewand,
und Ihre Seel’, woanders hingetragen,
ward neu geboren aus des Lichtes Lied.

Aber ein leichtes, zartes Band,
im Tode sanft gebrochen,
umschließt die eingefallnen Schläfen
mit unvergänglich’ Diamant.

An diesem Ort, allein im weißen Sand,
ist es ihr letztes Zeichen:
die ew’gen Steine malen immer noch
das Abbild ihrer Stirn.

Welcher, geleitet von den Göttern,
auf seinem Wege dies gesehen,
hält inne und beschaut geblendet
die Pracht, die er verloren wähnt.

Verloren! Strahlen richten sich dorthin!
O Reisender, du kennst ihn nicht,
den rätselhaften Sinn der Dinge;
Sie, alleine, war es nicht.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Inscription sur le sable", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 10, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-14
Line count: 20
Word count: 104