Stefan Zweig (Translation With The Original In German) Poem by Erhard Hans Josef Lang

Fulminating, irradescent, roaring,
life takes leaps onward to,
tears away to come along,
and it lets go again of none,
it renders hot, and renders bold,
and makes one joyous and great,
shakes one up and makes one be
more alert with a powerful nudge,
never it allows the tidings of splendour to ebb away,
no it never does -

it seizes you and holds you,
gushing towards onto you,
a torrent takes hold of you,
with you speeding away,
what no wild creek, no whirlwind,
no flood waters can do,
this breathing has done it already thousands of times,
this hot, searing, crystal-clear word.

Cool then and still like a Nordic lake,
glistening and soft like snow falling fresh,
it comes to stand vis-a-vis us,
like a multitude of primeval gold,
that is rolling through the fingers heavy and of an aged red,
beautiful like otherwise only an unspeakable dream,
that looks at you with deep shine from out of a darkening space -

and rises then up, as if reflecting on itself,
and again takes to seizing,
tears away to come along,
yells at you, laughs at you, weeps at you: that am I!
And what takes you into its grip is a longing-for
that is sweet and hauling,
a longing after people, a hot: 'Promise! '
and then it is fading away sounding like a nightingale song.

by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924 - 1942) , Jewish descendant of German settlers in Romania, deported & liquidated on December 16th 1942 by the Nazis during WW II

translated by Erhard Hans Josef Lang after its original in German:

STEFAN ZWEIG
Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger

Leuchtendes, glühendes rauschendes Leben
springt an und reißt mit und läßt keinen mehr los,
macht heiß und macht kühn und macht freudig und groß,
rüttelt auf und macht wacher mit kraftvollem Stoß,
läßt die Fluten von Glanz nie und nimmer verebben -

packt dich und hält dich und sprudelt dich an.
Sturzflut erfaßt dich und rast mit dir dort -
was kein Wildbach, kein Wirbel, kein Hochwasser kann,
hat dies Atmen vieltausende Male schon getan,
dieses heiße, verzehrende, glasklare Wort.

Kühl dann und still wie ein nordischer See,
glitzernd und weich wie frisch fallender Schnee,
steht es uns an wie viel uraltes Gold,
das altrot und schwer durch die Finger rollt
und schön ist wie sonst nur unsagbarer Traum,
der dich ansieht, tiefleuchtend aus dunkelndem Raum -

und bäumt sich dann auf, als besinne es sich,
und packt wieder an und reißt wieder mit,
schreit dich an, lacht dich an, weint dich an: das bin ich!
Und es packt dich ein Sehnen, das süß ist und zieht,
ein Sehnen nach Menschen, ein heißes: 'Versprich! '
und dann klingt es aus wie ein Nachtigall-Lied.

Note: Stefan Zweig was a Jewish Austrian biographer, essayist,
short-story writer, and cosmopolitan, who advocated the idea of an united Europe under one government. Zweig achieved fame with his vivid and psychoanalytically-oriented biographies of historical characters.
He was born on November 28th,1881 in Vienna, Austria.
He studied philosophy, and then started writing poetry, dramas and translated many French works into German. Eager pacifist, he was dreaming of an united Europe; the First World War deeply hurt him, and was a turning-point in his career.
He started writing short stories, which had great success and made him very famous. But because he was Jew, he had to leave Austria in 1934. Unfortunately nowhere could he find peace of mind, and his despair concerning the war made him commit suicide at Petropolis (Brazil) , on the 22th February,1942, where he and his 2nd wife, his former secretary, who followed him, got a state funeral.