Where do the words that didn't stay go? Where do the looks that once departed go? Do they float eternally, like prisoners in a gale? Or curl up, between the cracks, looking for heat? Do they roll on the glass, like rain drops when they want to pass? Would they ever be something again? Are they leaving? And where are they going?
A little Goethe, set to music by Schubert. A short meditation on peacefulness and death. The "Warte nur, warte nur!" ("wait, wait!") just kills me. Maybe I sing this when I'm hiking by myself, and maybe I serenade the mountains and the birds with this. It's also one of the first poems I memorized as a kid, since my grandpa loved it so much.
TEXT: Über allen Gipfeln Ist Ruh, In allen Wipfeln Spürest du Kaum einen Hauch; Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde. Warte nur, balde Ruhest du auch.
O'er all the hilltops Is quiet now, In all the treetops Hearest thou Hardly a breath; The birds are asleep in the trees: Wait, soon like these Thou too shalt rest. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation)
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A quick translation is like this:
Where do the words that didn't stay go?
Where do the looks that once departed go?
Do they float eternally, like prisoners in a gale?
Or curl up, between the cracks, looking for heat?
Do they roll on the glass, like rain drops when they want to pass?
Would they ever be something again?
Are they leaving?
And where are they going?
Reply
Reply
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A little Goethe, set to music by Schubert. A short meditation on peacefulness and death. The "Warte nur, warte nur!" ("wait, wait!") just kills me. Maybe I sing this when I'm hiking by myself, and maybe I serenade the mountains and the birds with this. It's also one of the first poems I memorized as a kid, since my grandpa loved it so much.
TEXT:
Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.
O'er all the hilltops
Is quiet now,
In all the treetops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The birds are asleep in the trees:
Wait, soon like these
Thou too shalt rest. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation)
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