Voice of longing | I whisper at your bed in sleepless night

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by Karl Busse (1872 - 1918)

Translation © by Jakob Kellner

Stimme der Sehnsucht

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Ich raun' dir am Bette in schlafloser Nacht,
Ich hab' deine Tage so müde gemacht.
Und was ich gewesen, und was ich dir bin,
Das flutet in ewigem Wechsel dahin.

Ich bin ein dunkler, verworr'ner Klang,
Der weit aus Thule herüberdrang.
Ich bin deiner Jugend verblühender Traum,
Dein erster Kuß unterm Apfelbaum.

Ich bin deine heil'ge Herzensnot,
Ich ruf' dich in Morgen- und Abendrot.

Deine Felder verkommen, dein Pflug bleibt stehn.
Es treibt dich in purpurne Fernen zu gehn,
Und ich flieg' dir voraus,
Und dein Fuß wird wund,
Und immer verdürstender brennt dein Mund.

Und du schreist nach mir,
Nach Erfüllung und Licht,
Wie du hungerst und frierst
Und du findest mich nicht.

Ich bin nur ein Klingen,
Ich bin nur ein Hauch,
Dein Herz wird schweigen;
Dann schweig' ich auch.

Text Authorship:

by Karl Busse (1872 - 1918) [author's text not yet checked 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 Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869 - 1949), "Stimme der Sehnsucht", op. 19 no. 1 (1905), published 1906 [ medium voice and piano ], from Zwei Lieder für mittlere Stimme und Klavier nach Gedichten von Carl Busse , no. 1, Leipzig, Max Brockhaus [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Jakob Kellner) , "Voice of longing", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Voix du désir", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jakob Kellner

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 23
Word count: 132

Voice of longing

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I whisper at your bed in sleepless night,
I have made your days so tired.
And what I have been and what I am to you
Shifts in eternal change.

I am a dark, confused sound
Far from Thule.
I am your youth's withering dream,
Your first kiss under the apple tree.

I am your holy sorrow,
I call you at dawn and dusk.

Your fields decay, your plough stands still.
You are driven into purple distance,
And I hurry ahead of you,
And you foot becomes sore,
And, more and more thirsty, your mouth burns.

And you cry for me,
For fulfillment and light;
How starving and cold you are
And you do not find me.

I am only a whisper;
I am only a sound. 
Your heart will keep silence,
So I will, too.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Jakob Kellner, (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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Karl Busse (1872 - 1918)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 23
Word count: 136