Raimund Lorenzer (1891-1966) was a German doctor and writer. The poem, Der Morgen, was first published in Gedichte by Raimund Lorenzer, Hyperion, Leipzig, 1929.

 

In Der Morgen, Rausch’s declamatory vocal setting allows Lorenzer’s complex poems to be heard clearly while the piano accompaniment paints a dark yet gossamer watercolor-like backdrop.

 

Poems by Raimund Lorenzer

English translation by Rachel Barham.

1. Before Daybreak

 

Now darknesses tormented me

With their interminable black dance,

Innumerable black dreams –

Will I finally find a ray of light?

 

The causes wave velvet-dark,

Oversaturated with stench.

And deceptively, as if light were announcing itself,

Pale fog flares up from the crevice.

 

Now day and night rest in an embrace.

Only the towers stand by,

Waiting for the dawns

To open their bell mouths.

 

2. The Most Highly Crowned Hour

 

But now comes the most highly crowned hour of them all

It comes to those who have

Extinguished the golden mouths

Of the singing stars.

 

Shining through the silence of the world.

Hour!

Before it manifests!

Before the breaking of the dawn!

 

3. [no title – continuation of the previous poem]

 

But now

The curtain of heaven lightly stirs.

Grasping at its folds, the sacred primeval hand of light

Blossoms upward.

The head of the mountain glows, white, full of secrets.

The soul of trees emerges,

Breathing the silvery breath of sleep.

It speaks. It shatters

The glassy dreams of birds. Its call,

Hear, a poised bow, springs up

Over the gorges! Now slumber,

Yet unborn, the [hosts of] hearts

Of animals and human beings,

Of the loving, fate-laden souls.

Soon

The thousand-faceted gilded mouth

Of the white celestial bodies,

Soon it awakes.

 

Out of that hour surges the extraordinary.

From it break forth the domes,

The grasping, ringing stones,

All dispersals of colors that stand before God,

And the resounding cataracts of the deeps.

The word, loosened, arises out of its silence

And the stark image of eternal deeds.

 

4. Like a Morning Melody

 

Like a morning melody,

A mountaintop horn of the early hour

Gently from a great distance

The call comes to me out of the mouth of light.

 

Oh, primal-born sound!

Oh clarifying clear breeze!

You cause the night and the poppy-delirium of the soul

To drift off with you like smoke.

 

You grow louder. I am ready.

The chambers thirst devoutly.

You flood, splendor!

Oh, overflow! Come!

 

5. Awakening

 

Oh first birdsong,

Your sound is ringing

[Through this early hour]

It is

Your song,

A ball of silver,

That bursts open the whole morning!

Now my head glistens,

My mouth, dusted over with light,

Stands open, still sinless.

The word yet prepares itself to go out,

And Creation grows, stupendous, struck with rays of light.

My soul reels, dark, heavy with wonder.

There it comes, hear, the word from the mouth: Who…

Who am I…? Am I…?

Who then am I…? Who…?

 

6. Oh Morning Wind

 

Swirling breath, oh full of

Cool-emerald aromas,

Flaming wing,

Rush!

Alarm!

Resounding

In the moonlit

Sleepchamber,

Break!

In the chambers of the world.

Inflame the blooms

And shake miraculous showers

From the resplendent hosts

Onto the calyxes

And thence

Into my cup