Reinhard Mey Lilienthals Traum (english)
Lilienthal's Dream
He knows that his journey will end here,
on this wagon bed; he hasn't ever erred.
The doctor and Gustav whisper
and they whisper about him.
Came to Stölln to fetch him home to Berlin.
Wheels hammer on the tracks,
Images running past fast:
Mother at the piano, playing Schumann's "Traemerei".
Family home in Anklam, school, failure and goodbye.
Hiding for days with Gustav in summer meadows.
Watching the storks weightless rounds,
Their rising, soaring, now understanding and suspecting:
You can fly, yes you can!
Let the wind blow from before,
Spread your wings, you'll see:
You can fly, yes you can!
First flight attempts ,the villagers laughed.
To escape ridicule, he tries only at night.
A new construction, a new technique.
The number 4771, his first patent!
Agnes by the house and garden in long black robe,
Agnes of full zest for life, Agnes, full of warmth.
Going with the children to the windmill hill on Sundays.
Seeing the world from bird's-eye view,
On giant cotton covered willow rod wings.
Summer 1891 and now he'll succeed!
You can fly, yes you can!
Let the wind blow from before,
Spread your wings, you will see:
You can fly, yes you can!
How the bars creak, how the wind sings in the wires.
How the wing gently and eagle-like swings o'er the horizon.
How the rise and fall of the air lifts his flying machine!
His legs are quite numb, how long has it already been?
The doctor from Rhinow says the blow
Hit the third vertebra, whatever this means.
What will Agnes feel, and the children, when they'll know?
Agnes was anxious, never without fears all these years.
One can't explain this longing to fly,
one must experience it by
those three steps to the precipice
and then the floating happiness !
You can fly, yes you can!
Let the wind blow from before.
Spread your wings, you will see:
You can fly, yes you can!
A good wind from the east
on this Sunday in August.
Already the first flight floats far to the valley,
And now soaring his desire, for
The second will go still further.
But the wind tears him steeply upwards there,
standing almost still; he pulls his legs and torso up.
The wind's veering him 'round, he is no longer calm,
And now he's rushing down at earth from sky.
He cannot change the fall , uncontrollably gone.
With a crashing comes the right wing.
Was he reckless? Or an accident,that he crashed?
He will never let his dream be dashed.
You can fly, yes you can!
Let the wind blow from before.
Spread your wings, you will see:
You can fly, yes you can!
Then sleep comes like a good, dear friend.
Good that he is returning home again.
This Man's first step towards flight,
It was worth it, by God's might!
Others will succeed, and man will yet
fly 'round the world ,if he wills.
And then will he escape from narrowness and bonds.
With all limits and struggles overcome!
He hears the children's voices,he feels Agnes near.
In this darkening wagon,
He is quite near to his dream now:
He sees the storks flying;
sees himself in their bright round dance.
Free and weightless, knowing now,
how to soar heavenwards in the sunlight.
You can fly, you can!
Let the wind blow from before.
Spread your wings, you will see:
You can fly, yes you can!
translated by Karl S. (dec. 12,2008)