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Was ich träume, fragst du? Daß wir beide Gestern starben und im weißen Kleide, Weiße Blumen in den losen Haaren, In der schwarzen Gondel meerwärts fahren. Glocken läuten fern vom Kampanile, Werden leiser, werden bald vom Kiele Übergurgelt, den die Wellen schlagen. Weiter meerwärts werden wir getragen, Dorthin, wo mit himmelhohen Masten Schiffe schwarz am Horizonte rasten, Wo die Fischerbarken mit den feuchten Rot und gelben Segeln tiefer leuchten, Wo die blauen großen Wogen brausen, Wo die wilden Schiffermöwen hausen. Dort, durch eines Wassertores blauen Rachen Segelt abwärts unser leichter Nachen In die Tiefen, deren weite Räume Fremd erfüllen die Korallenbäume, Wo in Muscheln, die verborgen glimmern, Bleiche Riesenperlen köstlich schimmern, Scheue Silberfische glänzen leise Uns vorbei und lassen Farbengleise, Deren Furchen andre überglänzen Mit den goldenroten, schlanken Schwänzen. Träumend dort in meilentiefer Tiefe Wird uns sein, als ob zuweilen riefe Einer Glocke Ton, ein Windeswehen, Deren fernes Lied wir nicht verstehen, Deren fernes Lied von engen Gassen Redet, die wir langeher verlassen, Und von Dingen, die wir ehmals kannten, Und von Wegen, die wir ehmals fanden. Einer Straße, eines Kircheninnern Werden wir verwundert uns erinnern, Eines Gondelrufs und mancher Namen, Die wir manchesmal vorzeit vernahmen. Lächelnd, wie im Schlaf die Kinder pflegen, Werden wir die stummen Lippen regen, Und das Wort wird, eh wir's können lallen, In Vergessenheit und Traumtod fallen. Über uns die großen Schiffe gleiten, Dunkle Barken bunte Segel breiten, Große Vögel in der Sonne fliegen, Blanke Netze auf dem Wasser liegen, Und darüber hoch und rein gezogen Eines Sonnenhimmels blauer Bogen.
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, pages 83-84.
Authorship:
- by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), no title, written 1902, appears in Unterwegs, in Venezianische Gondelgespräche, no. 2 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Richard Maux (1893 - 1971), "Was ich träume, fragst du?", op. 181 no. 12, published 1941 [ high voice or medium-high voice and piano ], from Italische Reise, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "What I dream, you ask?", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-05-24
Line count: 46
Word count: 255
What I dream, you ask? That both of us Died yesterday and in white garments, White flowers in our flowing hair, Are travelling toward the sea in a black gondola. From the distant campanile bells are tolling, They grow softer, soon the wake that the waves Beat from our keel drowns them in gurgling. We are carried farther seaward, To where, with sky-high masts Ships rest blackly along the horizon, Where the fishing barques with the damp Red and yellow sails glow more deeply, Where the great blue waves surge, Where the wild seagulls dwell. There, through the blue maw of a water-gateway Our light barque sails downwards Into the depths, whose broad expanses Are strangely filled by coral trees, Where in shells that gleam in hiding, Giant pale pearls shimmer exquisitely, Shy silvery fish glint quietly Past us and leave colour traces Over whose furrows others gleam With their gold-red, slender tails. Dreaming there in the mile-deep depths It will seem to us as if once in a while The sound of a bell calls, a blowing of the wind Whose distant song we do not understand, Whose distant song speaks of narrow streets That we abandoned long ago, And of things that once we knew And of roads that once we found. A street, the inside of a church We shall remember in wonderment, The cry of a gondolier and many names That we sometimes heard in times of yore. Smiling, the way children are wont to smile in sleep, We shall move our mute lips, And before we can murmur the word, it shall Fall into forgetting and dream-death. Above us the great ships shall glide, Dark barques shall spread colourful sails, Giant birds shall fly in the sunlight, Shining nets shall lie upon the water, And above, high and purely arched, The blue canopy of a sunny sky.
Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2019 by Sharon Krebs, (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 German (Deutsch) by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), no title, written 1902, appears in Unterwegs, in Venezianische Gondelgespräche, no. 2
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-19
Line count: 46
Word count: 312