Ein Mädchen
Language: German (Deutsch)
Available translation(s): ENG
"Ein Mädchen!" -- Wir waren ein bischen erschrocken,
Wir hatten ja nie an ein Mädchen gedacht!
Wir hatten ihn Beide förmlich gehört,
Den übermüthigen, wilden Jungen,
Wie er im Zimmer herumgesprungen
Und seinen Papa bei der Arbeit gestört!
Und ich war schon immer mit heimlichem Bangen
Die steilen drei Treppen hinunter gegangen:
"Wenn mir der Junge hier einmal fällt . . . !"
Und nun ein Mädchen!
Du strichst mir die Locken
Behutsam und zart aus der heißen Stirn.
Dann schrittest du schwebenden Schrittes zum Wagen
Und brachtest mir lächelnd das Kindchen getragen,
Und wir küßten Beide das goldene Haar,
Des Mädchens, das gestern -- ein Junge war!
Confirmed with Anna Ritter, Befreiung. Neue Gedichte, Fünfte Auflage, Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1900, pages 17-18.
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) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2008-09-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 106
A girl!" ‑‑ We were a bit startled
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
"A girl!" -- We were a bit startled,
For we had never thought of a girl!
We had both positively heard him,
The boisterous, wild boy,
How he capered about the room
And disturbed his father when he was working!
And I had already always walked down
The three steep stairs with secret trepidation:
"If my boy were to fall here one day . . . !"
And now a girl!
Gently and tenderly you stroked my curls
From off my heated brow.
Then you strode as if on air to the baby carriage
And smilingly carried the child to me,
And we both kissed the golden hair
Of the little girl, who yesterday -- was a boy!
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Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 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: 2023-11-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 116