GRETCHENS STIMME

from:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Selected Poetry"
translated by David Luke
Penguin Books, 1999


GRETCHENS STIMME

Meine Mutter, die Hur,
Die mich umgebracht hat!
Mein Vater, der Scheim,
Der mich gessen hat!
Mein Schwesterlein klein
Hub auf die Bein
An einem kühlen Ort — Da ward ich em schönes Waldvogelein,
Fliege fort, fliege fort!


GRETCHEN’S VOICE

Who killed me dead?
My mother, the whore!
Who ate my flesh?
My father, for sure!
Little sister gathered
The bones he scattered;
In a cool, cool place they lie.
And then I became a birdie so fine,
And away I fly — away I fly.