Saturday 25 February 2012

Kennst du die Sängerin mit Stimme klar und rein

I saw a classical recital this afternoon, which I rather enjoyed.
It prompted me to pen a short poem, in the style and language of an untitled poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Book III, Chapter 1, but sometimes referred to as "Mignon", variously put to music, by Ludwig Van Beethoven and others (see recmusic for more details).

Here is the poem:

Kennst du die Sängerin mit Stimme klar und rein
Insgesamt Freude zusammen zu sein
Die besten Freunde, mit uns verkleben
Jugendlich, wunderbar, voller Leben
Kennst du ihr
Dahin, ihr
Meine Sängerin, klar und rein




A loose and rather un-poetic translation:

Do you know the songstress with the voice clear and pure
A total joy to be around
The best of friends, sticks with us
Young and wonderful, full of life
Do you know her
There, her
My songstress, clear and pure.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Love

"An eye is meant to see things.
The soul is here for its own joy.
A head has one use: For loving a true love.
Feet: To chase after.
Love is for vanishing into the sky. The mind,
for learning what men have done and tried to do.
Mysteries are not to be solved: The eye goes blind
when it only wants to see why.
A lover is always accused of something.
But when he finds his love, whatever was lost
in the looking comes back completely changed."

— Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (مولانا جلال الدین محمد رومی)