by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
Adrift! A little boat adrift!
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE GER
Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?
So Sailors say -- on yesterday--
Just as the dusk was brown
One little boat gave up its strife
And gurgled down and down.
So angels say -- on yesterday --
Just as the dawn was red
One little boat -- o'erspent with gales --
Retrimmed its masts -- redecked its sails --
[Exultant, onward sped!]1
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 another version of Dickinson: "And shot -- exultant on!"
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Es treibt umher! Ein kleines Boot!", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-09-21
Line count: 13
Word count: 70
Es treibt umher! Ein kleines Boot!
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Es treibt umher! Ein kleines Boot!
Rasch rückt die Nacht heran!
Und niemand, der das kleine Boot
zum Hafen lotsen kann?
So sprachen Seeleut’ über gestern:
Als braun die Nacht begann -
ein kleines Boot den Kampf aufgab
und gurgelnd sank und sank.
So sprachen Engel über gestern:
Als rot der Tag begann -
ein kleines Boot, vom Sturm erschöpft,
aufs Neue Mast und Segel richt’
frohlockend eilt hinan.
Authorship:
Based on:
- a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1858
This text was added to the website: 2016-03-01
Line count: 13
Word count: 69