Along walls | An old path goes along

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Es geht ein alter Weg entlang

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Es geht ein alter Weg entlang
An wilden Gärten und einsamen Mauern.
Tausendjährige Eiben schauern
Im steigenden fallenden Windgesang.
 
Die Falter tanzen, als stürben sie bald,
Mein Blick trinkt weinend die Schatten und Lichter.
Ferne schweben Frauengesichter
Geisterhaft ins Blau gemalt.
 
Ein Lächeln zittert im Sonnenschein,
Indes ich langsam weiterschreite;
Unendliche Liebe gibt das Geleite.
Leise ergrünt das harte Gestein.

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Note: the title was added at the time of publication.

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "An Mauern hin", written 1913, appears in Gedichte aus dem Nachlass, first published 1939 [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 Rudi Spring (b. 1962), "Es geht ein alter Weg entlang", op. 89a no. 2 (2014) [tenor and piano], from Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Georg Trakl, no. 2. [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Along walls", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , 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: 60

Along walls

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

An old path goes along
wild gardens, lonesome walls.
Thousand-year-old yew trees shudder
In the wind’s rising, falling chant.

The butterflies dance as if they soon would die,
My weeping glance drinks shadows and lights.
In the distance women's faces hover
ghostly painted in the blue.

A smile trembles in the sunshine,
meanwhile I slowly stride on
escorted by unending love.
Quietly the hard rocks green.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English 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 German (Deutsch) by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "An Mauern hin", written 1913, appears in Gedichte aus dem Nachlass, first published 1939
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-11-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 66