Wer traurig sein will, wird vielleicht mich lesen,
Und er wird denken zwischen [meinen]1 Zeilen:
"Ja, traurig ist auch dieser Mensch gewesen.
[Kann]2 seine Traurigkeit die meine heilen?"
 
[Wir wollen uns um unsre]3 Gründe fragen
Der Traurigkeit, du Mensch der [späteren]4 Zeiten.
Die [meinen]5 wird dir die Geschichte sagen,
Die Jahresdaten meiner Traurigkeiten.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Bertold Viertel, Der Lebenslauf. Gedichte, New York: Aurora Verlag, 1946, page 42

¹ Eisler: "den"
² Eisler: "Aber kann"
³ Eisler: "Ich will dich nicht über die"
⁴ Eisler: "besseren"
⁵ Eisler: "meine"

Text Authorship:

• by Berthold Viertel (1885 - 1953), "Wer traurig sein will", appears in Der Lebenslauf. Gedichte, in Stimmen der Zeit [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 Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962), "Chanson allemande", 1953 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962), "Traurigkeit", published 1962 [ baritone, string orchestra ], from Ernste Gesänge, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Dr. Anthony Krupp) , "Sadness", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2016, (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: 8
Word count: 58

He who wishes to be sorrowful might perhaps read me,
And between [my]1 lines he shall think:
"Yes, this person, too, was sorrowful.
[Can]2 his sadness heal mine?"

[Let us query each other’s]3 reasons
For sadness, you human of [later]4 times.
Mine shall be told to you by history,
The dates of the years of my sorrows.