E Tenebris | Komm, Christus, hilf mir! reich mir deine Hand!

by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

E Tenebris

Language: English

Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach Thy hand,
For I am drowning in a stormier sea
Than Simon on Thy lake of Galilee:
The wine of life is spilt upon the sand,
My heart is as some famine-murdered land
Whence all good things have perished utterly,
And well I know my soul in Hell must lie
If I this night before God's throne should stand.
'He sleeps perchance, or rideth to the chase,
Like Baal, when his prophets howled that name
From morn to noon on Carmel's smitten height.'
Nay, peace, I shall behold, before the night,
The feet of brass, the robe more white than flame,
The wounded hands, the weary human face.

Text Authorship:

by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "E tenebris", from Poems, first published 1881 [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 Charles Trowbridge Haubiel (1892 - 1978), "E Tenebris", published 1937 [ SSAA chorus and 2 pianos (or orchestra, or orchestra with harp) ], from L'amore spiritual [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Erwin Schulhoff.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

E Tenebris

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Our translations: FRE

Komm, Christus, hilf mir! reich mir deine Hand!
In wilden Fluten ring'ich im Gebet
Als Simon auf dem See Genezareth!
Der Wein des Lebens rinnt dahin im Sand,
Mein Herz ist wie ein hunerwüsstes Land,
Wo alles Gute hinstarb, und gewiss:
Sollt'ich vor Gott aus dieser Finsternis,
Ich müsste liegen in der Sonne Brand.
"Er schläft vielleicht, ritt wohl zur Jagd,
Wie Baal, wenn alle Tag von Karmels Felsensäulen
Seine Propheten jenen Namen heulen."
Nein, still, noch vor der Nacht schau'ich zumal
Die erznen Füsse, das brandweisse Kleid,
Die wunde Hand, das Antlitz voller Leid.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in English by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "E tenebris", from Poems, first published 1881
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Erwin Schulhoff (1894 - 1942), "E Tenebris", op. 15 no. 3 (1914) [alto and piano], from Rosa Mystica, no. 3. [
text verified 1 time
]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 95