Gesang der Geister über den Wassern

(http://www.hoppebaumdienst.de/Kultur.html)
no copyright infringement intended

Des Menschen Seele
Gleicht dem Wasser:
Vom Himmel kommt es,
Zum Himmel steigt es,
Und wieder nieder
Zur Erde muß es,
Ewig wechselnd.

Strömt von der hohen,
Steilen Felswand
Der reine Strahl,
Dann stäubt er lieblich
In Wolkenwellen
Zum glatten Fels,
Und leicht empfangen,
Wallt er verschleiernd,
Leisrauschend
Zur Tiefe nieder.

Ragen Klippen
Dem Sturz entgegen,
Schäumt er unmutig
Stufenweise
Zum Abgrund.

Im flachen Bette
Schleicht er das Wiesental hin,
Und in dem glatten See
Weiden ihr Antlitz
Alle Gestirne.

Wind ist der Welle
Lieblicher Buhler;
Wind mischt vom Grund aus
Schäumende Wogen.

Seele des Menschen,
Wie gleichst du dem Wasser!
Schicksal des Menschen,
Wie gleichst du dem Wind!

(http://www.hoppebaumdienst.de/Kultur.html)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner + Monteverdi Choir
(video by Jeremy Cohan)

The soul of man
Is like the water:
It comes from heaven,
It returns to heaven,
And down again
To earth must go,
Ever changing.

When from the high,
Sheer wall of rock
The pure stream gushes,
It sprays its lovely vapor
In billowing clouds
Towards the smooth rock,
And lightly received,
It goes enshrouded,
Softly hissing
Down to the deep.

Cliffs tower,
Opposing its fall.
Annoyed, it foams
Step by step
Into the abyss.

In a flat bed
It slinks down the grassy vale,
And in the waveless lake
All the stars
Feast on their likeness.

Wind is the wave's
Handsome suitor;
Wind stirs up from the depths
Foaming billows.

Soul of man,
How like to the water!
Fate of man,
How like to the wind!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg86Cpbws78)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1UfJGorEc0)
no copyright infringement intended

Sufletul nostru
I-asemeni apei:
Din cer se iscă,
La cer se suie
Şi iar coboară
Către pămînturi,
Veşnic altfel.

De sus ţîşneşte,
Din stînci abrupte,
Şuvoi curat,
Apoi se sparge
În nori de spumă,
Pe stei golaş.

Primit uşure,
Se-nvăluieşte-n
Vuiet blînd,
Jos, spre adîncuri.

De-apar în drumu-i
Stînci împotrivă,
Spumegă-amarnic,
Treaptă cu treaptă,
Către-abis.

Pe patu-i molcom,
Şerpuie-n văile verzi,
Şi-n lacul cel neted,
Chipul îşi scaldă
Stelele toate.

Vîntu-i al undei
Dulce logodnic;
El,din străfunduri,
Mişcă talazuri.

Suflet al nostru,
Cum semeni tu apei!
Soartă a noastră,
Cum semeni cu vîntul!

traducere de Maria Banuş
 (http://www.poezie.ro/index.php/poetry/158680/)

(Schubert)

(Goethe und Schiller)