Gentle creatures, kindly spirits

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by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)

Translation © by Peter Palmer

Wer ein Herz hat und im Herzen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Wer ein Herz hat und im Herzen
Liebe trägt, ist überwunden
Schon zur Hälfte; und so lieg ich
Jetzt geknebelt und gebunden - - -

Wenn ich sterbe, wird die Zunge
Ausgeschnitten meiner Leiche;
Denn sie fürchten, redend käm ich
Wieder aus dem Schattenreiche.

Stumm verfaulen wird der Tote
In der Gruft, und nie verraten
Werd ich die an mir verübten
Lächerlichen Freveltaten.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Nachgelesene Gedichte 1845-1856, no. 61 [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 David Leonard Blake (b. 1936), "Wer ein Herz", published 1981 [high voice and instrumental ensemble (11 players)], from From the mattress grave : a cycle of twelve songs to poems by Heine, no. 11. [
text verified 1 time
]
by David Leonard Blake (b. 1936), "Wer ein Herz", published 1978 [voice and piano], from Nine Songs, no. 8. [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English [singable] (Peter Palmer) , title unknown, copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-11-09
Line count: 12
Word count: 60

Gentle creatures, kindly spirits

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Gentle creatures, kindly spirits
Know their love will bring them anguish
All too quickly; thus already
Bound and gagged I sadly languish....

When I die, they'll seize my body,
Cutting out the tongue it harbors,
Lest, still talking, I should haunt them,
Rising up from ghostly arbors.

Dumbly shall I sink and molder
Underground, without revealing
How they came to perpetrate their
Foolish, wicked double-dealing.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: this is a revised American version of the one published with the David Blake setting.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 by Peter Palmer, (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 Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Nachgelesene Gedichte 1845-1856, no. 61
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-06-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 65