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Posted by Barb on May 27, 19100 at 04:19:49:
In Reply to: Blessed longing posted by oxygenthief on April 13, 19100 at 05:46:18:
There is another English translation in contemporary blank verse by Robert Bly. It is interesting to compare the two. "mman" doesn't work for me, but the rest of the translation is quite clear. Someone with a German version can compare the three and see what is illuminated and what is lost in translation:
The Holy Longing
Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
because the mman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
what longs to be burned to death.
In the calm water of the love-nights,
where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
a strange feeling comes over you
when you see the silent candle burning.
Now you are no longer caught
in the obsession with darkness,
and a desire for higher love-making
sweeps you upward.
Distance does not make you falter,
now, arriving in magic, flyling,
and, finally, insane for the light,
you are the erfly and you are gone.
And so long as you haven't experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest
on the dark earth.
: If anyone knows of a poem by Goethe with a title like Blesses Longing in German or English (either is fine) I would be eternally grateful for the text or a link in my email :)
: thankx
: OXY