by
Gottfried Benn (1886 - 1956)
Gedicht
Language: German (Deutsch)
Available translation(s): ENG
Und was bedeuten diese Zwänge,
halb Bild, halb Wort und halb Kalkül,
was ist in dir,
woher die Dränge
aus stillem traürnden Gefühl?
Es strömt dir aus dem Nichts zusammen
aus Einzelnem, aus Potpourri,
dort nimmst du Asche, dort die Flamme,
du streust und löschst und hütest sie.
Du weißt, du kannst nicht alles fassen,
umgrenze es, den grünen Zaun
um dies und das,
du bleibst gelassen,
doch auch gebannt in Missvertraun.
So Tag und Nacht
bist du am Zuge,
auch sonntags meisselst du dich ein
und klopfst das Silber in die Fuge,
dann lässt du es -- es ist: das Sein.
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Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (John H. Campbell) , "Poem", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John H. Campbell
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 19
Word count: 101
Poem
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
And what means this force,
half picture, half word and half guess'd,
what do you intend,
wherefore the need
for quiet anguished feeling?
It spills out of you from nothingness
from the singular, from the diverse,
here, you take ash, there the flame,
you scatter and would delete and protect them.
You blanch, you cannot grasp it all,
bound it, contain it,
about this and that,
you remain lost,
entranced but also mistrusting.
By day and by night
you are drawn,
also on Sundays, you chip away at it
and wear the stylus to a nub,
then, you leave it - it is: the Essence.
Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John H. Campbell, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 19
Word count: 105