The Dream.

The dream is a paper
the dream is at night
then came the gatekeeper
who opens up the gates.

the dream is clear light
death is the woman
the The Day is the dream
and the beam is the dream

Translated by Gary Sullivan and Oya Ataman.

* * *

Der Traum.

Der Traum ist ein Papier
der Traum ist zur Nacht
da kam der Pförtner
der die Tore aufmacht.

der Traum ist klares Licht
Der Tod ist die Frau
der Der Tag ist der Traum
und der Baum ist der Traum

* * *

Notes


Illustration by Oswald Tschirtner. Click image to enlarge.

This poem appears as the first poem in each of the four editions of Herbeck's work that I have, despite the fact that the poem that always follows it, "Der Morgen" (see above), is according to numerous sources, including Navratil himself, the first poem that he had Herbeck write.

"the The Day is the dream" has been questioned by some as a mistranslation of "der Der Tag ist der Traum," as "der" is, of course, not always a definite article (it can also mean "which" or "who"--as it does in the first stanza of this very poem).

I've gone with "the The Day" for two reasons.

1) The French translation I have translates the line as "le Le jour est le rêve"

2) Oya felt that "the The Day" was right.

Another oddity in this poem. Although "der Baum" is obviously "the tree" in English, I've translated it as "the beam" in English. The reason is that I don't believe Herbeck got to "der Baum" because he wanted, necessarily, to mean "the tree," but because he wanted an exact rhyme of "der Traum." He does this sort of thing frequently, in many cases resulting in a word that doesn't exist, but which may put one in mind of a somewhat similar word that does exist. "Beam," especially given the tree-like nature of beams, and that many are actually made of wood, seemed most apt here.