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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Jessie Lemont (1872 - 1947)

When my soul touches yours
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
When my soul touches yours a great chord sings:
How can I tune it then to other things?
Oh, if some spot in darkness could be found
That does not vibrate when your depths sound!

But ev'rything that touches you and me welds us
as played strings sound one melody.
Where, where is the instrument whence the sounds flow?
And whose the magic hand that holds the bow?
Oh, sweet song! Oh!

Text Authorship:

  • by Jessie Lemont (1872 - 1947) [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Liebeslied", appears in Neue Gedichte, first published 1892
    • 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 Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990), "When my soul touches yours", 1949, from Two Love Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Margaret Dows Herter Norton Crena de Iongh, née Herter (1894 - 1985) , "Lovesong", appears in Translations from the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, first published 1938, copyright © 1966 ; composed by Libby Larsen.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Dana Gioia (b. 1950) , "The song", appears in The Gods of Winter, first published 1991, copyright © ; composed by Alva Henderson, Lori Laitman, Paul Salerni.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Reena Esmail.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Harold Smith ; composed by John Theodore Livingston Raynor.
      • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-25
Line count: 9
Word count: 72

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