There is a translation in the following book:
"Bertolt Brecht: Poems and Songs from the Plays"
Eds: John Willett and Ralph Manheim
Methuen 1990
It's Poem 53, "The Lovers", on page 71:
THE LOVERS
See those wild cranes in a great circle sweeping!
The clouds that lie behind them, soft and gentle
Started to drift with them as they were leaving
Their old life for a new one. Thus they went, all
At the same height and with the same haste soaring
Both of them seeming merely incidental.
That cloudbank and wild bird should thus fly sharing
The lovely sky which each so quickly covers
That therefore neither lingers in this clearing
And neither see a thing except how wavers
The other in the wind which both feel brush them
Who now in flight lie alongside each other.
So into nothingness the wind may thrust them
If neither of them alters or disperses
So long will nothing have the powerto touch them
So long can they be chased away from all these places
Where storms are threatening or shouts re-echo.
So, under sun's and moon's but slightly differing faces
They fly away, each merging in his fellow.
Where going? .. Nowhere much .. Away from whom? .. All of you.
That is a loving pair.
You may ask: how long have they been together? .. A short while.
And how will they go on after? - Apart.
So lovers find in love a firm support.
I've kept the formatting as it was (ie two dots instead of three etc.).
Hope this helps.
Katya Bargna
>From: nicola creighton <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: nicola creighton <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Brecht poem in English
>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 13:51:29 +0100
>
>Dear all,
>
>I'm looking for an English translation of Brecht's poem "Die
>Liebenden". I have a notion John Willett has done one but I haven't
>been able to find it. It doesn't have to be his - any translation of
>it will do. If anyone can help I'd be very grateful.
>
>Best wishes,
>Nicola Creighton
>________________
>Dr. Nicola Creighton
>Lecturer in German Studies
>Queen's University Belfast
>University Road
>Belfast BT7 1NN
>Northern Ireland
>Tel. +44 28 9097 1401
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