by Walter Heinrich Robert-Tornow (1852 - 1895)
Translation © by Knut W. Barde

Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE LIT SPA
Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht
Von Gott, der sie erschuf? Ist es der Strahl
Von andrer Schönheit aus dem Jammertal,
Der in mein Herz Erinnrung weckend bricht?

Ist es ein Klang, ein Traumgesicht,
Das Aug und Herz mir füllt mit einem Mal
In unbegreiflich glüh'nder Qual,
Die mich zu Tränen bringt? Ich weiß es nicht.

Was ich ersehne, fühle, was mich lenkt,
Ist nicht in mir: sag mir, wie ich's erwerbe?
Mir zeigt es wohl nur eines Andren Huld;

Darein bin ich, seit ich dich sah, versenkt.
Mich treibt ein Ja und Nein, ein Süß und Herbe -
Daran sind, [Herrin]1, deine Augen Schuld.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 in the original text by Michelangelo, this is a male (signor)

Text Authorship:

Based on:

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 (Knut W. Barde) , "Is my soul feeling the longed for light", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Ar tebejaučia mano siela išsiilgtą Kūrėjo šviesą", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Gerardo Garciacano Hinojosa) (Simone von Büren) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Torsten Roeder

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 106

Is my soul feeling the longed for light
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Is my soul feeling the longed for light
Of God who created it?  Is it the gleam
Of a different beauty from the valley of misery,
reflecting in my heart and evoking memory?

Is it a sound, a dream vision,
That suddenly fills my eye and heart
In incomprehensibly burning pain,
That brings me to tears?  I do not know.

What I long for, the sense of what directs me,
Is not within me:  Tell me how do I acquire it?
To me it reveals only another's grace and love;

I have been their captive since I first saw you.
I am driven by a yes and a no, a sweet and a bitter -
That, mistress1, is the doing of your eyes.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 or "master"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2005 by Knut W. Barde, (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.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2005-10-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 124