Hinter mir sinkt Ewigkeit

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Behind Me ‑‑ dips Eternity

Language: English

Our translations: GER

Behind Me -- dips Eternity --
Before Me -- Immortality --
Myself -- the Term between --
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin --

'Tis Kingdoms -- afterward -- they say --
In perfect -- pauseless Monarchy --
Whose Prince -- is Son of None --
Himself -- His Dateless Dynasty --
Himself -- Himself diversify --
In Duplicate divine --

'Tis Miracle before Me -- then --
'Tis Miracle behind -- between --
A Crescent in the Sea --
With Midnight to the North of Her --
And Midnight to the South of Her --
And Maelstrom -- in the Sky --

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• M. Mendes Martins

M. Mendes Martins sets lines 1, 2

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [author's text not yet checked 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 Brian Holmes (b. 1946), "Behind Me -- dips Eternity" [ soprano, chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra ], from Amherst Requiem, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Maria-Eduarda Mendes Martins (b. 1990), "A Fragment of Eternity", 2022, lines 1,2 [ mixed chorus ], CMC
Score: Centre de Musique Canadienne [external link] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-18
Line count: 18
Word count: 84

Hinter mir sinkt Ewigkeit

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Hinter mir sinkt Ewigkeit -
vor mir liegt Unsterblichkeit -
ich - die Zwischenzeit.
Tod, bloß eine graue Drift aus Ost,
die sich im Morgenrot zerlöst,
noch eh die Nacht tritt ein.

’s gibt Reiche - nachher - sagen sie,
in bester, ew’ger Monarchie,
der’n Prinz ist niemands Sohn;
er selbst, endlose Dynastie,
er selbst hat sich gewandelt schon
in göttliche Dreieinigkeit.

Es liegt ein Wunder vor mir - dann -
eins hinter mir - und zwischendrin
ein Halbmond überm Meer,
mit Mitternacht nach Norden hin,
und Mitternacht nach Süden hin,
der Mahlstrom über ihm.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2018 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
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Based on:

a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-10-17
Line count: 18
Word count: 87