Warum?
Language: German (Deutsch)
Available translation(s): ENG FRE
O jenen bangen Weg zurück,
Da jeder Baum von ihm erzählte,
Da jedes Blatt und jeder Stein
Mit Fragen meine Seele quälte,
Da Alles sprach: Warum? Warum?
"Warum gehst du den Weg allein,
Mit ernster Stirn und blassen Wangen,
Den du am blauen Frühlingstag
So jubelnd einst zu Zwei'n gegangen?" --
-- Mein Herz schrie auf . . . mein Mund blieb stumm --
O du verzehrendes "Warum".
Confirmed with Anna Ritter, Gedichte, Neunte Auflage, Stuttgart und Berlin: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1900, page 46.
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) , "Why?", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Pourquoi ?", copyright © 2018, (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: 2011-09-03
Line count: 11
Word count: 65
Why?
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
Oh, that anxious way back,
Where every tree spoke of him,
Where every leaf and every stone
Tortured my soul with questions,
Where everything spoke: Why? Why?
"Why do you walk the path alone,
With solemn brow and pale cheeks,
[The path] that on a blue spring day
You once walked so jubilantly as a twosome?" --
-- My heart shrieked out . . . my mouth remained mute --
Oh, you all-consuming "Why".
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: 2023-10-09
Line count: 11
Word count: 71