Kindertotenlieder

Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n
als sei kein Unglück die Nacht gescheh'n.
Das Unglück geschah nur mir allein.
Die Sonne, sie scheinet allgemein.

Du musst nicht die Nacht in dir verschränken
musst sie ins ew'ge Licht versenken.
Ein Lämplein verlosch in meinem Zelt,
Heil sei dem Freudenlicht der Welt.

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Now the sun wants to rise as brightly
as if nothing terrible had happened during the night.
The misfortune had happened only to me,
but the sun shines equally on everyone.

You must not enfold the night in you.
You must sink it in eternal light.
A little star went out in my tent!
Greetings to the joyful light of the world.

Friedrich Ruckert

Gustav Mahler

so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.

T.S. Eliot
The Burial of the Dead