Meine Kerze brennt an beiden Enden

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by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

My candle burns at both ends

Language: English

Our translations: GER

My candle burns at both ends;
    It will not last the night; 
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends --
    It gives a lovely light!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "First fig", appears in A Few Figs from Thistles, first published 1920 [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 (Edward) Maurice Besly (1888 - 1945), "My candle burns at both ends", published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Charivaria [sung text not yet checked]
by Annabel Morris Buchanan (1888 - ?), "My candle", published 1928 [sung text not yet checked]
by Michael Ippolito (b. 1985), "First Fig", 2018 [ soprano and piano ], from Vanitas, no. 1, confirmed with a score [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: 2008-06-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 25

Meine Kerze brennt an beiden Enden

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Meine Kerze brennt an beiden Enden;
die Nacht überdauert sie nicht;
doch, - ah, ihr Feinde, und, oh, ihr Freunde, -
sie spendet ein liebliches Licht.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles
"First Fig" = "Erste Feige"
"My candle burns at both ends" = "Meine Kerze brennt an beiden Enden"
"My candle" = "Meine Kerze"

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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "First fig", appears in A Few Figs from Thistles, first published 1920
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-11-20
Line count: 4
Word count: 24