Robert Schuman deployed a vast range of poets for his song cycle Myrthen (die Myrthe = myrtle) which he dedicated to his bride Clara Wieck: from the German poets Goethe, Heine, and Rückert to the English language poets George Gordon Byron from London, and Thomas Moore from Dublin. ?Die Lotosblume? is a poem in Heinrich Heine's first collection of poetry ?Das Buch der Lieder?. With its clarity and simplicity the book, published in 1827, marked a new style in German poetry.
Translation and song facts provided by the Berlin-based writer and German tutor Bernd Hendricks whose book "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" can be purchased here:
http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-f%C3%BChls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+f%C3%BChl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
And his blog accessed here: https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com/
Die Lotosblume ängstigt
The lotus flower is afraid
Sich vor der Sonne Pracht,
Of the sun's glory
Und mit gesenktem Haupte
And with a lowered head
Erwartet sie träumend die Nacht.
She is expecting dreamily the night
Der Mond, der ist ihr Buhle,
The moon, he is her lover,
Er weckt sie mit seinem Licht,
He wakes her up with his light
Und ihm entschleiert sie freundlich
And to him she friendly unveils
Ihr frommes Blumengesicht.
Her pious flower-face
Sie blüht und glüht und leuchtet,
She blooms and glows and shines,
Und starret stumm in die Höh;
And stares silently up into the skies;
Sie duftet und weinet und zittert
She scents and weeps and trembles
Vor Liebe und Liebesweh.
Of love and lover's grief.
Vocabulary and Grammar:
die Lotosblume = lotus flower
In German, the lotus flower is feminine. (pronoun: sie)
ängstigen sich vor (reflexive) = to be afraid of
(Reflexive: ich ängstige mich, du ängstigst dich, die Lotoblume ängstigt sich)
die Sonne = sun, die Pracht = glory, magnificence
Der Sonne Pracht is in the genitive case, meaning one noun (Pracht) depends on the other noun (die Sonne). Today, we say ?die Pracht der Sonne.? The old bards said ?der Sonne Pracht? which sounds poetically for modern ears.
gesenkt = lowered
das Haupt = (old) head
der Mond = moon.
Unlike in many other language, the moon is masculine in German. (pronoun: er)
der Buhle = (old) lover
ihr (possessive pronoun) = her
einem (possessive pronoun) = his
ihm (dative pronoun, indirect object) = to him
entschleiern = unveil
fromm = pious
in die Höhe = up into the heights/skies
das Liebesweh = lover's grief
Translation and song facts provided by the Berlin-based writer and German tutor Bernd Hendricks whose book "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" can be purchased here:
http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-f%C3%BChls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+f%C3%BChl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
And his blog accessed here: https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com/