Evening song | In the evening, when we walk on gloomy paths

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Abendlied

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Am Abend, wenn wir auf dunklen Pfaden gehn,
Erscheinen unsere bleichen Gestalten vor uns. 

Wenn uns dürstet,
Trinken wir die weißen Wasser des Teichs,
Die Süße unserer traurigen Kindheit. 

Erstorbene ruhen wir unterm Hollundergebüsch,
Schaun den grauen Möven zu. 

Frühlingsgewölke steigen über die finstere Stadt,
Die der Mönche edlere Zeiten schweigt. 

Da ich deine schmalen Hände nahm
Schlugst du leise die runden Augen auf,
Dieses ist lange her. 

Doch wenn dunkler Wohllaut die Seele heimsucht,
Erscheinst du Weiße in des Freundes herbstlicher Landschaft.

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "Abendlied" [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 Hans Uwe Strübing (b. 1956), "Abendlied", op. 89 (Vier Lieder) no. 4 (2007), first performed 2011 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Evening song", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Chant du soir", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2016-06-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 83

Evening song

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

In the evening, when we walk on gloomy paths,
our pallid contours emerge ahead of us.

When we’re thirsty,
we sip the white waters of the mere,
the sweetness of our mirthless childhood.

Departed, we rest under the elder bushes,
watching grey gulls.

Spring clouds soar above the glowering town,
that conceals monks’ nobler times.

When I took your slim hands,
you gently opened your round eyes.
This is long ago.

Yet, when dark harmonious melodies haunt the soul,
you - white figure - appear in the friend’s autumnal scene.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 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
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "Abendlied"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-06-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 88