The pilgrimage
(Poet's title: Die Wallfahrt)
Set by Schubert:
D 778A
[probably 1823]
Meine Tränen im Bußgewand
Die Wallfahrt haben
Zur Kaaba der Schönheit angetreten;
In der Wüste brennendem Sand
Sind sie begraben,
Nicht hingelangten sie anzubeten.
In penitential clothing my tears
Set off on a pilgrimage
To the Kaaba of beauty.
In the burning sand of the desert
They have been buried,
They did not allow me to worship.
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Deserts Graves and burials Pilgrims and pilgrimage Tears and crying
Friedrich Rückert’s Östliche Rosen (the collection in which this short text appeared) draws on the author’s deep knowledge of Arabic and Persian language and literature, and Islamic culture more generally. His familiarity with writers like Rumi (1207 – 1273) exposed him to the mystical tradition of Sufism, which seems to underlie his metaphorical approach to the concept of pilgrimage here.
Although all forms of Islam have presented Hajj (‘pilgrimage’) as one of the ‘Five Pillars’, and thus an essential element of devotion, not every Islamic tradition has insisted that this must involve a physical journey to the Kaaba in Mecca. In more mystically oriented traditions pilgrimage can be an inner process of transformation.
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Original Spelling Die Wallfahrt Meine Thränen im Bußegewand Die Wallfahrt haben Zur Kaaba der Schönheit angetreten. In der Wüste brennendem Sand Sind sie begraben, Nicht hingelangten sie anzubeten.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, Oestliche Rosen von Friedrich Rückert. Drei Lesen. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. 1822, page 369.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 369 [Erstes Bild 377] here: https://download.digitale-sammlungen.de/BOOKS/download.pl?id=bsb10117423