On the Water (translation of “Auf dem Fluße” by Wilhelm Müller from Schubert’s “Winterreise” song cycle)
You who once blithely tumbled,
Your once pellucid gleam
Has now become glazed over,
And sunk in icy dream.
Beneath your encrustation,
Your brittle, cold veneer
Spread out upon the gravel,
Unyielding and austere.
I watch myself engraving
With sharply pointed stone
The name of my beloved
And, not without a stifled moan:
The date when I first met her,
The day of our parting;
Describing name and number,
An intermittent cordate ring.
My heart, upon the water
Do you see your image now?
Will your hard integumentum
Now shatter with the Spring?
Will it shatter with the Spring?
My heart, upon the water
Do you see your image now?
Will your hard integumentum
Now shatter with the Spring?
Will it shatter with the Spring?
Now shatter with the Spring?
English verse translation © Thomas Beavitt 2017
Painting by Chisha
