German Poems - Poems about German

Here's to Reiner our 'Hero in chains' a true International.' Who deserves stromg acclaim.' After fourty five hearings Where the judges must be; 'mud' blind? And even deaf, perhaps? It must be a 'record of kinds' charged yet not tried.' And Now its eighteen months in!! Often chained hands and Feet.? Where oh where should i begin? At the at...

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This is my modern English translation of the poem "Stages" by the great German poet Hermann Hesse from his novel "The Glass Bead Game." "Stages" or "Steps" by Hermann Hesse from his novel The Glass Bead Game translation by Michael R. Burch As every flower wilts and every youth must wilt and exit life from a curtained stage, so every virtue—even our...

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Our Christmas traditions ... They came across the sea, From the old, old towns In the heart of Germany Sugar and spice - filled Were the gingerbread men, Cut by hand ... carefully As was the tradition then A wooden nutcracker guards In a frosted windowpane, To keep away evil spirits ... Out wandering down your lane And, the advent calendar Which hung on the...

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Gefunden (“Found”) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Into the woodlands, alone, I went. Seeking nothing, my sole intent. But I saw a flower deep in the shade gleaming like starlight in a still glade. I reached down to pluck it when it shyly asked: “Why would you snap me so cruelly in half?” So I dug up the flower, by the roots and all, then planted...

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Prometheus by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch obscure Your heavens, Zeus, with a nebulous haze! and, like boys beheading thistles, decapitate oaks and alps. yet leave me the earth with its rude dwellings and my hut You didn’t build. also my hearth, whose cheerful glow You envy. i know nothing more pitiful under the sun than these vampiric...

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The Fisher by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe translation by Michael R. Burch The river swirled and rippled; nearby an angler lay, and watched his lure with a careless eye, like any other day. But as he watched in a strange half-dream, he saw the waters part, and from the river’s depths emerged a maiden, or a tart. A Lorelei, she sang to him her strange, bewitching song: “Which...

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“To the Moon” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Scattered, pole to starry pole, glide Cynthia's mild beams, whispering to the receptive soul whatever moonbeams mean. Bathing valley, hill and dale with her softening light, loosening from earth’s frigid chains my restless heart tonight! Over the landscape, near and far, broods darkly glowering night; yet welcoming as Friendship’s eye, she, soft!, bequeaths her light. Touched in...

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These are modern English translations of poems by the German poets Ingeborg Bachmann, H. Distler and Johann Georg Jacobi. “Song” by Johann Georg Jacobi translation by Michael R. Burch Friend, tell me where the violet fled, so lately gaily blowing? That once perfumed fair Flora’s tread, its choicest scents bestowing? Swain, give up verse and hang your head: the violet lies dead! Friend, what...

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These are modern English translations of poems by the German poets Hannah Arendt, Ingeborg Bachmann, Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim and Heinrich Heine. Heinrich Heine The Seas Have Their Pearls by Heinrich Heine loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The seas have their pearls, The heavens their stars; But my heart, my heart, My heart has its love! The seas and the sky are immense; Yet far...

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“To Edward Young” by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock translation by Michael R. Burch Die, aged prophet: your crowning work your fulcrum; now tears of joy tremble on angel-lids as heaven extends its welcome. Why linger here? Have you not already built, great Mover, a monument beyond the clouds? Now over your night-thoughts, too, the pallid free-thinkers hover, feeling there's prophecy amid your song as it warns of the...

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“Was gesagt werden muss” (“What must be said”) by Gunter Grass translation by Michael R. Burch Why have I remained silent, so long, failing to mention something openly practiced in war games which now threaten to leave us merely meaningless footnotes? Someone’s alleged “right” to strike first might annihilate a beleaguered nation whose people march to a martinet’s tune, compelled to pageants of orchestrated obedience. Why?...

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Our medical system in Central Pa. needs a major tweak. Unfortunately the absence of care is daily growing more bleak.. I can't see my cardio. until nearly a week.. A shortage of primary's clearly exists. I'm currently on four waiting lists.. Drove to an e.r. yesterday to be seen when my b.p. went up to 216. Sat in a waiting room for over...

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Da war etwas welches ich geschrieben wollen würde, es war aber nicht mehr ganz in mein Gehirne, Lass mich nochmal nachdenken, Über das Gedankgeschenke' Müsse es gewesen sein? Ich schaue auf den Mann der mag mir übel sein, Er hatte aber schöne Wein gestein' Mit dem Wagen er rumfahr: ,,Wissen sie was ich wollen denken mag?" ,,Waren sie nicht der mir melken half?" ,,Die...

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The grandfather on my mother's side was a cheapskate. A real cheapskate. One Christmas, he gave me a used paperback book. Something like “Jimmy Plays Baseball.” It was written for a 7 year old child, and I was considerably older than that. Still had “5 cents” written in pencil on the first page. No foolin'. Asked he, “You ever read...

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These are modern English translations of the "Xenia" epigrams written in collaboration by the German poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, plus an elegy Goethe wrote for Schiller... These are selected XENIA epigrams with all translations by Michael R. Burch... #2 - Verse versus Kiss She says an epigram’s too terse to reveal her tender heart in...

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