by
Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)
The parable of the Old Man and the Young
Language: English
Available translation(s): CAT FRE
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenched there,
And streched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! and angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Offertorium", op. 66 no. 3, published 1961 [soprano, tenor, baritone, satb chorus, boys' chorus, orchestra, chamber orchestra, organ], from the collection War Requiem, no. 3..
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 131
Aleshores Abraham s’aixecà, estellà la...
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English
Aleshores Abraham s’aixecà, estellà la fusta i marxà
prenent amb ell el foc i un coltell.
I quan sojornaren tots dos junts,
Isaac, el primogènit, parlà i digué: pare meu,
veig els preparatius, el foc i el coltell,
però on és l’anyell per a aquest holocaust?
Llavors Abraham lligà el jove amb cinyells i corretges,
construí allà parapets i trinxeres,
i brandà el coltell per matar el seu fill.
Llavors, heus ací, que un àngel el cridà des del cel
dient: no alcis la mà sobre el noi
i no li facis res. Mira,
un anyell està entrampat per les banyes en unes garrigues,
ofereix l’Anyell de l’Orgull en el seu lloc.
Però el vell no féu això, sinó que matà el seu fill
i la meitat de la descendència d’Europa, un a un. ...
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in English by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918), "The parable of the Old Man and the Young", from Poems, first published 1920
This text was added to the website: 2016-06-30
Line count: 16
Word count: 135