Abschiedsworte an einen japanischen buddhistischen Priester auf dem Weg in die Heimat | Du warst vorherbestimmt, die Quelle zu finden

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by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Farewell to a Japanese Buddhist priest bound homeward

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: GER

You were foreordained to find the source.
Now, tracing your way -- as in a dream
There where the sea floats up the sky,
You wane from the world in your fragile boat.

The water and the moon are as calm as your faith,
Fishes and dragons follow your chanting,
And the eye still watches beyond the horizon
The holy light of your single lantern.

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Text Authorship:

by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968), "Farewell to a Japanese Buddhist priest bound homeward", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Qian Qi (722 - 780), "送僧歸日本"
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "Farewell to a Japanese Buddhist priest bound homeward", op. 116 no. 5 (1962) [ soprano and harp ], from The Jade Mountain, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Abschiedsworte an einen japanischen buddhistischen Priester auf dem Weg in die Heimat", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 64

Abschiedsworte an einen japanischen buddhistischen Priester auf dem Weg in die Heimat

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Du warst vorherbestimmt, die Quelle zu finden.
Nun, da du deinen Weg gehst - wie in einem Traum,
dort, wo das Meer hochwogt zum Himmel,
entschwindest du der Welt in deinem zerbrechlichen Boot.
Das Wasser und der Mond sind so still wie dein Glaube,
Fische und Drachen folgen deinem Gesang,
und das Auge gewahrt noch hinter dem Horizonte
das heilige Licht deiner einzigen Lampe.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2008 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968), "Farewell to a Japanese Buddhist priest bound homeward", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Qian Qi (722 - 780), "送僧歸日本"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 63