Widmung

[GordonS]

I've taken my best shot at translating this dedication to the book of poetry that my great-great-grandfather received from his good friend upon his departure from Germany, but I'd love to see what others make of it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Widmung:

Ins ferne Land, wo eine andre Sonne
Kalt und unfreundlich auf den Fremdling scheint,
Wo keine Heimathlust und keine Wonne
Vertrauter Freundschaft tiefe Herzen eint,
Wo schnödem Gut nachjagend eifrig Streben [Gutnachjagend? spacing is ambiguous--]
Zumeisterfüllt das so entweihte Leben
Nimm, Freund, mit dir, im Glücke und im Leide
Dies Buch der Poesie'n als Geleite.

Wenn fern von mir Du ihren Worten lauschest,
Vernimmst Du meines Lebens Lust und Schmerz; [Lebenslust?]
Wenn sehnend Du in ihre Seiten rauschest
Tönt Dir zurück des Freundes innig Herz;
In ihnen ruht des deutschen Geistes Blüthe,
In ihnen lebt der deutschen Heimath Güte
An ihnen Klängen wirst in trüben Stunden,
Zu neuer Jugendfreude Du gefunden.

Dein Bernhardt. [Rudolf Bernhardt, von Zwickau]

14/4.54.

[Hamburger]

Quite a challenge...

Dedication:

Into the far country, where a different sun
shines cold and unfriendly unto the stranger,
where no home delight and no bliss
unite deep hearts of intimite friendship,
where hunting vile items eagerly striving
mostly fulfills the so desecrated lifes
take, friend, from me, in happiness and in sorrow
this book of poetries as a companion.

When far from me you listen to their words,
you perceive my own life's lust and pain;
when longingly you rustle in their pages
the friend's dear heart sounds back to you;
in them rest the German spirit's blossom,
in them lives the German Heimat's gentleness
on their sounds you will in bleary hours,
have found a novel joy of youth.

That was fun, although I didn't even try to make this rhyme! Don't nail me down on the English grammar, the German poetry has always been heavy duty stuff! By the way, the second to last line was strange. "An ihnen Klängen"... could it be "an ihren Klängen"?

Is there something like our "Poesiealbum" in America? A little book every child has, to give to friends so they can fill out a whole blank page. Usually with a poetry like the above, or else "kid's poetry": "In allen - vier Ecken - soll Freundschaft - drin stecken". Or: "Es grüßen blaue Blümlein licht in deinem Garten klein,
Sie bitten Doch: Vergiss mein nicht, denn ich gedenke dein."

Yes, yes - Germany's Poets and Thinkers...

[GordonS]

Many Thanks!!!

And, yes, it is "ihren" as I look at it. Always a typo when you think you've got them all!

But the part that threw me the most was "eint" in the fourth line, although I now see it clearly for what it is.

I think the thing that comes the closest here to what you describe were the autograph books that high school graduates exchanged with each other some 80 years ago and more. But they were then forgotten as each school began to publish a yearbook with class pictures, with particular emphasis upon graduating seniors. The custom is for classmates to write brief notes next to their pictures, or in the blank pages inside the front and back book covers. Because of the space limitations, in part, poetry is seldom the vehicle for what is said. And now one leaves notes on a person's MySpace (or similar) page for everyone to see.…

[Hamburger]

I know the yearbooks, have one myself, that is not even close to what a poesie album is. Let me try to find a picture...

Now, this is a simple one, but it shows what I mean. You recite a little poem, and traditionally you paste some "Oblaten" on the page, too. The Poesiealbum tradition is a long one, so very seldom you would put a picture of yourself into it (photos used to be something very expensive and were treasured too much than to paste it somewhere).

Here's another one:

But you are right... they're not modern any more. Nowadays the kids use books like these, where they can just fill out the lines, so they don't really write poems any more:

This is a Diddl-Freundebuch, and nowadays photos are pasted in there a lot.

And as the kids grow older, they use the pc instead, you're right!

[GordonS]

To find anything similar to your first two examples I'd have to go back a century or so here, and then it would contain mostly pasted images with a little prose but even less poetry. And I don't think many people would still have them around! Nice, though, if so.