Masculine fears | You cannot believe

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by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920)

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall

Mannesbangen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Du darfst nicht meinen,
ich hätte Furcht vor dir.
Nur wenn du mit deinen
scheuen Augen Glück begehrst
und mir mit solchen
zuckenden Händen
wie mit Dolchen
durch die Haare fährst,
Und mein Kopf liegt an deinen Lenden:
dann, du [Wehrlose]¹,
beb' ich vor dir...

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Richard Dehmel, Gesammelte Werke in drei Bänden, Band 2, S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1913, page 60.

¹ another version of the poem: "Sünd'rin"

Text Authorship:

by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Mannesbangen", appears in Weib und Welt, first published 1896 [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 Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Mannesbangen", 1894-1903, from 7 frühe Lieder, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Temor d’un home", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Masculine fears", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Craintes d'un homme", copyright © 2010, (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: 11
Word count: 47

Masculine fears

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

You cannot believe
that I would be afraid of you.
But when you, with your
shy eyes, beg for happiness,
and when you run those
darting hands,
like daggers,
through my hair,
And my head rests on your thighs:
then, [helpless one],
I tremble before you...

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2011 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Mannesbangen", appears in Weib und Welt, first published 1896
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-07
Line count: 11
Word count: 46