Es sang vor langen Jahren
Wohl auch die Nachtigall,
Das war wohl süsser Schall,
Da wir zusammen waren.
Ich sing' und kann nicht weinen
Und spinne so allein
Den Faden klar und rein
So lang der Mond wird scheinen.
Als wir zusammen waren
Da sang die Nachtigall
Nun mahnet mich ihr Schall
Dass du von mir gefahren.
So oft der Mond mag scheinen,
Denk' ich wohl dein allein,
Mein Herz ist klar und rein
Gott wolle uns vereinen.
Seit du von mir gefahren,
Singt stets die Nachtigall,
Ich denk' bei ihrem Schall,
Wie wir zusammen waren.
Gott wolle uns vereinen
Hier spinn' ich so allein,
Der Mond scheint klar und rein,
Ich sing' und möchte weinen.
S'troyen oyf in mir zingendike erter,
zey shteln, zikh oys un vern verter
fun farsteykhnte memuarn.
Shvarts oyf vays farshribn,
mit a zikorun a likhth-getunktn.
Kh'ken zikh gornit narn.
A lebn tsuzamengeshtelt fun shtiker geografiye.
Gasn un shtiber,
lompn un betn,
penemer un siluetn
zaynen di komes un punktn
fun mayn biografiye.
Vertaling:
Singing places surge in me, sorrow-stirred;
they arrange themselves and become the words
of recorded memory,
written in black on white
by a memory dipped in light.
I can't even fool myself.
A life pieced together from scraps of geography.
Streets and houses,
lamps and beds,
faces and silhouettes
are the commas and periods
of my biography.
She's like the swallow that flies so high,
She's like the river that never runs dry,
She's like the sunshine on the lee shore,
I love my love and love is no more.
It's out of wild roses she made a bed,
A stony pillow for her head.
She laid her down, no word she spoke,
Until this fair maid's heart was broke.
She's like the swallow that flies so high,
She's like the river that never runs dry,
She's like the sunshine on the lee shore,
I love my love and love is no more.
To the sky from the earth in lofty flight
From the hills so green in the blush of spring
So away with thee shall I fly, shall I fly
From this place to a land so far away
Softly now with the dawn I will ride with the wind
O'er the hills through the mist on the wings of thee
Spirit fly, spirit fly to the cloud up above
Spirit fly to a place beyond the sky
Spirit fly, spirit fly to a place on high
Softly now with the dawn I go with thee
In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red
When the summer’s ceased it’s gleaming
When the corn is past it’s prime
When adventure’s lost it’s meaning
I’ll be homeward bound in time
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plough
Set me free to find my calling
And I’ll return to you somehow
When you find it’s me you’re missing
If you’re hoping I’ll return
To your thought’s I’ll soon be listening
In the road I’ll stop and turn
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears it’s end
And the path I’ll be retracing
When I’m homeward bound again
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plough
Set me free to find my calling
And I’ll return to you somehow
In the quiet misty morning
when the moon has gone to bed
when the sparrows stop their singing
I’ll be homeward bound again
A stablelamp is lighted whose glow shall wake the sky
The stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry
And straw like gold shall shine,
A barn shall harbour heaven,
A stall become a shrine,
This child, through David’s city
Shall ride in triumph by;
The Palm shall strew it’s branches
And every stone shall cry
Though heavy dull and dumb
And lie within the roadway
To pave his kingdom come.
But now as at the ending the low is lifted high
The stars shall bend their voices
And every stone shall cry
In praises of the child
By whose descent among us
The worlds are reconciled.