LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation by André Gide (1869 - 1951)

Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkens
Language: English  after the Bangla (Bengali) 
Our translations:  GER
Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkens. 
Ah, love, why dost thou let me 
wait outside at the door all alone?

In the busy moments of the noontide work 
I am with the crowd, 
but on this dark lonely day
it is only for thee that I hope.

If thou showest me not thy face, 
if thou leavest me wholly aside, 
I know not how I am to pass 
these long, rainy hours.

I keep gazing on the far-away gloom of the sky, 
and my heart wanders wailing 
with the restless wind.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 18, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 18 [text unavailable]
    • 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by André Gide (1869 - 1951) , no title, appears in Gitanjali (L'Offrande lyrique), no. 18, first published 1914 ; composed by Louis Durey, Darius Milhaud.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Claus Ogermann.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Nino (Hjalmar) Runeberg (1874 - 1934) ; composed by Erkki Gustaf Melartin.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 92

Les nuages s’entassent sur les nuages
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Les nuages s’entassent sur les nuages ; 
il fait sombre. Amour ! ah pourquoi me laisses-tu 
dehors attendre tout seul à la porte ?

Dans l’affairement du travail de midi, 
je suis avec la foule ; 
mais par ce sombre jour solitaire 
je n’espère seulement que toi.

Si tu ne me montres point ta face, 
si tu me laisses complètement de côté, 
je ne sais pas comment je traverserai ces longues, 
ces pluvieuses heures.

Je reste à contempler le large obscurcissement du ciel 
et mon cœur plaintif rôde 
avec le vent sans repos.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Rabîndranâth Tagore. L’Offrande lyrique (Gitanjali). Traduction d'André Gide, Paris, Éditions de la Nouvelle revue française, 1917, page 68.


Text Authorship:

  • by André Gide (1869 - 1951), no title, appears in Gitanjali (L'Offrande lyrique), no. 18, first published 1914 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 18, first published 1912
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 18 [text unavailable]
    • 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 Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "Les nuages s'entassent", op. 14 no. 3 (1914) [ voice and piano ], from L'offrande lyrique, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Poème du Gitanjali", op. 22 (1914) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-01-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 89

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris