Waldtragödie
Language: German (Deutsch)
Our translations: ENG FRE
Zwei Bäume standen im Wald,
Umsponnen von träumendem Schweigen,
Und strebten sehnend sich zu
Mit knospenden, schwankenden Zweigen.
Sie rauschten leis in der Nacht,
Sie winkten mit blühenden Büschen
Und kamen nie doch sich nah --
Der Hohlweg lag trennend dazwischen.
Ich hab' so oft, ach, so oft.
Im Wald vor den Bäumen gestanden
Und habe der Seelen gedacht,
Die suchend, sich nimmer doch fanden.
Nun brach ein zuckender Strahl
Dem einen die schwellenden Glieder,
Da riß er kraftvoll im Tod
Den glücklos Geliebten mit nieder.
Wie ruh'n so stille die Zwei,
Verschlungen im dämmernden Grunde --
Ein selig, hochzeitlich Lied
Klingt leis durch die blühende Runde.
Confirmed with Anna Ritter, Gedichte, Einundzwanzigste Auflage, Stuttgart und Berlin: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1905, pages 111-112.
Text 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 (Sharon Krebs) , "Forest tragedy", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Tragédie en forêt", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2019-05-06
Line count: 20
Word count: 105
Forest tragedy
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
Two trees stood in the the forest,
Cocooned in a dreamy silence,
And yearningly strove toward each other
With budding, swaying branches.
They soughed quietly in the night,
They beckoned with blooming bushes
And yet did not come near to one another
A sunken road lay between, dividing them.
So often, ah, so often I have stood
In the forest in front of the trees
And have remembered the souls
That, in spite of their searching, never found each other.
Now a twitching stroke of lightning
Broke the swelling limbs of one of them,
Powerfully then it wrenched the unhappily loved one
Along down into death.
How the two rest so quietly,
Entwined in the twilit ground --
A blissful wedding song
Sounds quietly through the blooming world round about.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2019 by Sharon Krebs, (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: 2019-06-19
Line count: 20
Word count: 129
