In former times my demon laughed

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Es hat mein Dämon einst gelacht

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Es hat mein Dämon einst gelacht,
Da war ich ein Licht in schimmernden Gärten,
Und hatte Spiel und Tanz zu Gefährten
Und der Liebe Wein, der trunken macht.

Es hat mein Dämon einst geweint,
Da war ich ein Licht in schmerzlichen Gärten
Und hatte die Demut zum Gefährten,
Deren Glanz der Armut Haus bescheint.

Doch nun mein Dämon nicht weint noch lacht,
Bin ich ein Schatten verlorener Gärten
Und habe zum todesdunklen Gefährten
Das Schweigen der leeren Mitternacht.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Gesang zur Nacht, no. 10 [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 Ernst Ludwig Leitner (b. 1943), "Es hat ein Dämon einst gelacht", 1978, first performed 1979 [low voice, flute, and harp], from Gesang zur Nacht. 12 Gesänge nach Gedichten von Georg Trakl, no. 10, self published: Edition 43 [
text not verified
]

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: 12
Word count: 78

In former times my demon laughed

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

In former times my demon laughed, 
when I was a light in glimmering gardens, 
and dalliance and dance were my companions
and the wine of love, which makes us drunk.

In former times my demon cried, 
when I was a light in grief-stricken gardens 
and humility was my companion, 
whose clarity shines on poverty’s house. 

Now that my demon neither weeps nor laughs, 
I am a shadow of forsaken gardens 
and have as my deathly-dark companion
the silence of the empty midnight.

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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Gesang zur Nacht, no. 10
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-10-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 82