The dream | Tired, I lay down on the bed

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by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Drömmen

Language: Swedish (Svenska)

Our translations: ENG FIN FRE GER

Tröttad lade jag mig ned på bädden,
Att i sömnen glömma sorg och saknad,
Men en dröm sig smög till hufvudgärden¹,
Hviskande uti mitt öra detta:
"Vakna, hon är här, den sköna flickan,
Blicka upp, att hennes kyss emotta!"
Och jag slår med glädje upp mitt öga.
Hvar är drömmen? Som en rök försvunnen.
Hvar är flickan? Bortom land och sjöar.
Hvar är kyssen? Ack, blott i min längtan.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ modern spelling: "huvudgården"

Text Authorship:

by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Drömmen" [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 Selim Palmgren (1878 - 1951), "Drömmen", 1898 [ men's chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Moses Pergament (1893 - 1977), "Drömmen", 1915 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957), "Drömmen", op. 13 (Seitsemän yksinlaulua pianon säestyksellä Runebergin teksteihin = 7 sånger (Seven songs)) no. 5 (1891), first performed 1892 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The dream", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Uni", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Un rêve", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Traum", copyright © 2020, (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: 10
Word count: 71

The dream

Language: English after the Swedish (Svenska)

Tired, I lay down on the bed,
That in sleep, I might forget sadness and need,
But a dream crept up to the head of my bed, and
Whispered this in my ear:
“Wake up, she’s here, the beautiful girl,
Look up, to receive her kiss!”

And with delight, I slapped open my eyes.
Where’s the dream? Like smoke - vanished.
Where’s the girl? Beyond land and sea.
Where’s the kiss? Ah, only in my longing.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Swedish (Svenska) to English copyright © 2018 by Laura Prichard, (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), "Drömmen"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-12-15
Line count: 10
Word count: 75