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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

May night
Language: English  after the Bangla (Bengali) 
I run as a musk-deer runs
in the shadow of the forest
mad with his own perfume.
The night is the night of mid-May,
the breeze is the breeze of the south.
I lose my way and I wander, 
I seek what I cannot get, 
I get what I do not seek.

From my heart comes out and dances 
the image of my own desire.
The gleaming vision flits on.
I try to clasp it firmly, 
it eludes me and leads me astray.
I seek what I cannot get, 
I get what I do not seek.

Text Authorship:

  • by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in The Gardener, no. 15, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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 Hageman (1881 - 1966), "May night", 1917 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Pavel Haas.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Frederik van Eeden (1860 - 1932) , no title, appears in De Hoovenier, no. 15, first published 1919 ; composed by Berthe Geuer.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Hans Gál.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-19
Line count: 15
Word count: 96

Noc je noc plného máje
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the English 
Noc je noc plného máje,
vítr je vítr jižní.
Běžím jak běží kabor pižmový, 
ve stínu lesa šílený 
vlastní svou vůní. 
Scházím z cesty a chodím, hledám, 
čeho nemohu nalézti, 
nalézám, čeho nehledám.

Z mého srdce vychází a tančí
obraz mé touhy. 
Světlá vidina se míhá. 
Chci ji pevně uchopit, 
uniká mi a svádí mne z cesty.
Chodím, běžím a hledám. 
Hledám, čeho nemohu nalézti, nalézám, čeho nehledám.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in The Gardener, no. 15, first published 1913
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Pavel Haas (1899 - 1944), "Noc je noc plného máje", op. 6 no. 2 (1923) [tenor, piano, string quartet], from Fata Morgana, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2017-07-31
Line count: 15
Word count: 68

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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