A soft faint whisper
Iâm on the run
From riled-up masses
Across the wilderness
Arrived at the end
Been sitting at the entrance for so long
In silence and without a plan
First thereâs a storm
But youâre not moving past with it
Then thereâs an earthquake
But youâre not involved in it either
Iâm gonna pull strongly at the roots from below
Until the world above awakens
Col de ma ma daqua
A soft faint whisper
From a voice of fleeting1 silence
And if there were deluges of water
I know you wouldnât partake in any flood anymore
Even if it was going to rain meteors today
I know youâre just no longer a part of it
Iâm gonna pull strongly at the twenty-two roots
Until the world above awakens
Iâm gonna raise my voice of dissent
Until the answer blows towards me from the whisper
- âVerschwebtâ is an outdated word refering to âschwebenâ (to float), meaning something like âvolatileâ, âlost in the airâ or âotherworldlyâ.
Die Vögel
Friedrich von Schlegel
Wie lieblich und fröhlich,
Zu schweben, zu singen;
Von glÀnzender Höhe
Zur Erde zu blicken!
Die Menschen sind töricht,
Sie können nicht fliegen;
Sie jammern in Nöten,
Wir flattern gen Himmel.
Der JÀger will töten,
Dem FrĂŒchte wir pickten;
Wir mĂŒssen ihn höhnen,
Und Beute gewinnen.
The birds
English Translation © Richard Wigmore
How delightful and exhilarating it is
to soar and to sing,
to look down on the earth
from the radiant heights!
Men are foolish:
they cannot fly.
They lament in their distress;
we fly up to the heavens.
The huntsman whose fruit we pecked
wants to kill us;
but we should mock him
and snatch our spoils.