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Herr, aller Weisheit Quell und Grund.--(Goed. 260.)
Appeared in Crü. Praxis, 1661, 576, no. 373.
English Version:
O God! from Thee doth wisdom flow, All I can do Thou well dost know; If Thine own grace doth not sustain, Then all my labor is in vain. . . . |
A complete and very good translation by J. Kelly. The long metre of 8 syllables seems to lend itself more readily to adaptation into English. In the fourth stanza, first line, Kelly has resorted to a device common to translators, that of making up the extra accent where the corresponding English cognate has lost the ending, by selecting instead of a monosyllabic adverb an adverb of two syllables. Here, of course, "very" for "sehr" makes literality and meter perfect.
Mein Leben ist sehr kurz und schwach My life is very short and weak. |
As exact and appropriate translation as is possible word for word is found in stanza ???:
Ich lieb ihr148148i.e. Weisheit. liebes Angesicht, Sie ist meins Herzens Freud und Licht; Sie ist die schönste, die mich halt Und meinen Augen wolgefällt. | I love her lovely face so bright. She is my joy and heart's delight The fairest is that holdeth me Mine eyes she pleaseth wondrously. |
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