Du meine Seele, du mein Herz,
Du meine Wonn', o du mein Schmerz,
Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe,
Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe,
O du mein Grab, in das hinab
Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab.
Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden,
Du bist vom Himmel mir beschieden.
Daß du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert,
Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt,
Du hebst mich liebend über mich,
Mein guter Geist, mein beßres Ich!
Text by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)
Translation (Emily Ezust)
You my soul, you my heart,
you my bliss, o you my pain,
you the world in which I live;
you my heaven, in which I float,
o you my grave, into which
I eternally cast my grief.
You are rest, you are peace,
you are bestowed upon me from heaven.
That you love me makes me worthy of you;
your gaze transfigures me before you;
you raise me lovingly above myself,
my good spirit, my better self!
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Awesome!
Posted by: striv @ WGB at March 8, 2004 01:25 PM
now THAT is poetry; who ever said that german was not a romantic language?
Posted by: amandine at March 8, 2004 06:24 PM
German as a romantic language per se? Arguable...depends on your tastes, I guess. But German is, without question, the language of the romantics.
This text is the text Schumann used for a song "Widmung," first in a collection called Myrten, I think. This liebeslied has also been transcribed by Liszt. Search the archives for widmung...I've put up Yundi Li playing the Liszt transcription. I think Bartok also set this song at some point, substituting "Liebe" for "Seele" in the first line.
Posted by: Luke Ma at March 8, 2004 08:06 PM