The North | The leaves are falling

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by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877)

Translation © by David McCleery

Norden

Language: Swedish (Svenska)

Our translations: ENG FIN FRE GER

Chosen for Diff

Löfven de falla,
Sjöarna frysa...
Flyttande svanor,
Seglen, o seglen
Sorgsna till södern,
Söken dess nödspis,
Längtande åter;
Plöjen dess sjöar,
Saknande våra!
Då skall ett öga
Se er från palmens
Skugga och tala:
"Tynande Svanor,
Hvilken förtrollning
Hvilar på norden?
Den som från södern
Längtar, hans längtan
Söker en himmel."

Note: modern spelling would change "Löfven" to "Löven" and remove the leading 'H' for "Hvilken" and "Hvilar".

Text Authorship:

by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Norden", appears in Lyriska dikter II [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 Harald Fryklöf (1882 - 1919), "Norden" [sung text not yet checked]
by Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957), "Norden", op. 90 (6 sånger (Six Songs)) no. 1 (1917) [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David McCleery) , "The North", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Pohjola", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le Nord", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Norden", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 51

The North

Language: English after the Swedish (Svenska)

Chosen for Diff

The leaves are falling
The lakes freeze over
Migrating swans
Glide, how they glide
Sorrowfully to the south,
To seek refuge,
Impatient to return;
They plough the lakes
Longing for ours!
There, a beady eye
Will spot you
From the shadow of a palm tree and say:
“O melancholic swans
What sort of magic
Enchants the North?
He who comes from the South
Has a yearning; he yearns
To find paradise.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Swedish (Svenska) to English copyright © 2018 by David McCleery, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Swedish (Svenska) by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Norden", appears in Lyriska dikter II
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-02-26
Line count: 18
Word count: 71