Mahomets Gesang

Language: German (Deutsch)

Song for Mohammed

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Behold this rocky spring, bright with joy like a twinkling star; above the clouds its youth was nourished by good spirits among the cliffs in the bushes. Fresh as a youth it dances out of the cloud down to the marble rocks, cheering again to the sky. Along mountainous paths it chases after colorful pebbles, and with the step of a young leader its companion-springs journey with it onward. Below in the valley flowers appear from its footprints, and the meadow derives life from its breath. But no shaded valley can stop it, no flower, clasping its knees and imploring it with loving eyes: toward the Plains it presses its course, twisting like a snake. Brooks nuzzle up sociably. Now it treads into the Plain, resplendent with silver, and the Plain grows silver too, and the rivers of the Plain and the brooks of the mountains cheer and shout: "Brother! Brother, take your brothers with, take them with you to your ancient father, to the eternal ocean, whose outstretched arms await us, who, ah! has opened them in vain to embrace his yearning children; for the bleak wasteland's greedy sand devours us; the sun above sucks up all our blood; a hill clogs us into a pool! Brother, take your brothers from this Plain, take your brothers from the mountains, take them with you to your ancient father! Come all of you! - and now [the spring] swells more grandly: an entire race lifts the prince up high! And in rolling triumph it gives names to the lands and cities that grow in its path. Irresistibly it rushes onward, leaving a wake of flaming-tipped towers and houses of marble - creations of its bounty. Like Atlas it bears cedar houses upon its giant's shoulders; over its head, the wind noisily blows a thousand flags as testimony of its glory. And so it brings its brothers, its treasures, its children, effervescent with joy, to the waiting parent's bosom.