Solch Feuer nicht zu löschen ist

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

You cannot put a fire out

Language: English

Our translations: GER

You cannot put a fire out;
  A thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a fan
  Upon the slowest night.

You cannot fold a flood
  And put it in a drawer,—
Because the winds would find it out,
  And tell your cedar floor.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896.

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Power", appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 50 [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 Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956), "You cannot put a Fire out", first performed 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Too Few the Mornings Be. Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 5, Carl Fischer Music [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2021-03-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 44

Solch Feuer nicht zu löschen ist

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Solch Feuer nicht zu löschen ist,
denn, was sich selbst entfacht,
brennt ohne Fächeln vor sich hin
über die längste Nacht.

Die Flut ist unfaltbar,
im Schrank schlecht abgelegt.
Der Wind würd’ sicher dess’ gewahr,
verriet’s deinem Parkett.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2021 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 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Power", appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 50
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2021-03-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 38