by
Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)
Zigeuner
Language: German (Deutsch)
Available translation(s): ENG FRE
Die Sehnsucht glüht in ihrem nächtigen Blick
Nach jener Heimat, die sie niemals finden.
So treibt sie ein unseliges Geschick,
Das nur Melancholie mag ganz ergründen.
Die Wolken wandeln ihren Wegen vor,
Ein Vogelzug mag manchmal sie geleiten,
Bis er am Abend ihre Spur verlor,
Und manchmal trägt der Wind ein Aveläuten
In ihres Lagers Sterneneinsamkeit,
Daß sehnsuchtsvoller ihre Lieder schwellen
Und schluchzen von ererbtem Fluch und Leid,
Das keiner Hoffnung Sterne sanft erhellen.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Gypsies", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Tziganes", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-09-16
Line count: 12
Word count: 74
Gypsies
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
A yearning glows in their night-shrouded glance
towards that homeland they will never find.
So they are driven by a cruel fate,
that only gloom may fully fathom out.
The clouds show them their ways,
migrating birds may sometimes guide them,
until they lose their track at night;
sometimes the wind carries the sound of a Hail Mary bell
to their camp in stellar solitude,
so that their songs will swell with greater yearning
and sob from an inbred curse and hardship,
that no stars of hope will ever softly light.
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2018-11-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 91