Nothing | I should name, you say, my

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by Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812 - 1864)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Nichts

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA JPN

Nennen soll ich, sagt ihr, meine
Königin im Liederreich?
Toren, die ihr seid, ich kenne
Sie am wenigsten von euch.

Fragt mich nach der Augen Farbe,
Fragt mich nach der Stimme Ton,
Fragt nach Gang und Tanz und Haltung,
Ach, und was weiß ich davon!

Ist die Sonne nicht die Quelle
Alles Lebens, alles Lichts?
Und was wissen von derselben
Ich, und ihr, und alle? -- Nichts.

Text Authorship:

by Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812 - 1864), "Nichts", appears in Die letzten Blätter [author's text checked 1 time 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 Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Nichts", op. 10 (Acht Gedichte aus "Letzte Blätter" von Hermann von Gilm) no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Res", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Dicht", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Nothing", copyright ©
ENG English [singable] (John Bernhoff) , "Nought", first published 1897
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Rien", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Niente", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , "なにも", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 66

Nothing

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I should name, you say, my
queen in the realm of love?
You are fools, for I know
her less than you do.

Ask me about the color of her eyes;
ask me about the sound of her voice;
ask me about her gait and posture, and how she dances;
ah, what do I know about it?

Is not the sun the source
of all life and all light?
And about this, what do 
I and you and everyone know? Nothing.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812 - 1864), "Nichts", appears in Die letzten Blätter
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 81