by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Das Dunkel löschte mich schweigend aus
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Das Dunkel löschte mich schweigend aus,
Ich ward ein toter Schatten im Tag -
Da trat ich aus der Freunde Haus
In die Nacht hinaus.

Nun wohnt ein Schweigen im Herzen mir,
Das fühlt nicht nach den öden Tag -
Und lächelt wie Dornen auf zu dir,
Nacht - für und für!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text 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) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-29
Line count: 8
Word count: 49

The darkness silently wiped me out
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The darkness silently wiped me out, 
I was a dead shadow in the day - 
then I stepped out of my friends’ house -
out into the night. 

Now there is a silence in my heart, 
that does not feel the dreary day - 
and it smiles up to you like thorns, 
Night - forever!

About the headline (FAQ)

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

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:

Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-10-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 51