Übersetzung / Translation
von / by Walter A. Aue




Friedrich Hölderlin:

Menschenbeifall

Ist nicht heilig mein Herz, schöneren Lebens voll,
Seit ich liebe? warum achtetet ihr mich mehr,
Da ich stolzer und wilder,
Wortereicher und leerer war?

Ach! der Menge gefällt, was auf den Marktplatz taugt,
Und es ehret der Knecht nur den Gewaltsamen;
An das Göttliche glauben
Die allein, die es selber sind.




Friedrich Hölderlin:

Public's Applause

Is not holy my heart, filled by a happier life
since I love? And for what did you respect me then,
when much prouder and wilder,
fuller of words and more vacant I was?

Shame! The masses enjoy only the goods at the fair,
and the servant obeys master's violence only.
Those that believe the divine
are but the ones that are so themselves.



Arrogant, you say? Certainly! And a damn good poem, too!

But consider: He was just doing what poets (with few but notable exceptions) are doing best: having a love affair that scandalizes the neighbourhood. Seems the Philistines drove him crazy...



...



Further poems by Hölderlin
Weitere Gedichte von Hölderlin

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Posted: February 2006

N.B.: The frame around the poems shows reflections
in a pond at Cleveland Beach Provincial Park.

Want to see the original photograph?

















































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