Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 31, 2019:

For those interested YOU WALK AWAY

You walk away
In mute disgrace.
I’m standing there,
And watch your retreat.
Your hair is a mess
Your laceless shoe
Don’t dare to come back
Bohemian soul!
Your thirty-some years
Your slow gait, your sang-froid,
How fed up I am, you
Bohemian soul!

Inside, you speak
to child and maid,
I just sit here
Despondently.
My eyes on the door,
The door stays closed
Won’t you come back
Melancholy soul?
Your open hair
Your placid shoe
How deeply I love you
Melancholy soul!

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 31, 2019:

Hi Clarissa unfortunately, it's not. Would have been fun though, wouldn't it have?

Clarissa Hull May 31, 2019:

Schwermüttig: wordplay I would agree with you there. It's the first thing that sprang to mind when I read the poem. Wordplay, as you suggested, not a typo.

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

The client apologizes profusely for the typos!

Jennifer Caisley May 30, 2019:

Thank you, Björn Just to echo Ramey's thanks - thank you for the dictionaries link! (It's also reminded me that I have a vague recollection of writing an essay on the 'Grimmsches Wörterbuch' while at university, which I'd completely forgotten about!)

Björn Vrooman May 30, 2019:

As to why he wrote what he wrote, maybe you want to take a look at pages 96 through 100 of this document: https://d-nb.info/975474103/34

Plus, think about the fact that he was born rather in the north of Germany--they're all a bit melancholic :D

Helen could probably help out here. I'm not so well-versed in this area.

Best wishes

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

Hi Björn I've redirected the question to the client to find out exactly what he/she intends.
Yes the poem is from 1938, as far as I know. Thanks for the link, I'll certainly bookmark it for future use. Enjoy the holiday.

Björn Vrooman May 30, 2019:

Hello Ramey and Jennifer Anytime. As I said, it's hard to get access to this. Maybe your client wants to turn it into a wordplay. I hasten to add that 1960 was not the first time these poems were published, so I can't look at any older versions.

Can you click on this link: https://bit.ly/2HKs6fE

Should lead you right to the sentence.

Also, while Jennifer's find is intriguing, I think you both might find it helpful to bookmark this link:
http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/setupStartSeite...

There's even a Pfälzisches Wörterbuch among those!

One of the most important links for etymological research is the DWB by the Brothers Grimm (yes, the fairytale guys). It was the most comprehensive dictionary of its time. There, you'll see that "schwermüthig" was typically spelled with a th (which makes sense, as the -h- draws out the sound): http://woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&...

Same in one of the other dictionaries linked: http://woerterbuchnetz.de/Adelung/call_wbgui_py_from_form?si...

Since Manfred Hausmann was 20th century, anything older than this would be odd.

[...]

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

Hi Björn You're a research wiz! I got as far as the contents of the poetry volume, but couldn't access the poem itself. The client may not wish to divulge his/her poor typing skills?
THANKS BRO!
But I still can't quite swallow 'melancholy' as a major image in a love poem. The pregnant image caught my fancy, it would be lovely wordplay! I guess I'll keep it straightforward and send the translation to the client for approval. I LOVE this stuff, counting out meter, matching ryhmes...
Cheers!

Björn Vrooman May 30, 2019:

@Ramey The double -t- is probably not intentional. Did you look in GoogleBooks?

It's called "Die Gedichte" by Manfred Hausmann and was published by S. Fischer in 1960. You can't really preview the book, but you can search for single words.

If you do that by typing in "Schwermütige" with one(!) -t-, it'll show a bit of the poem you posted. There is no double -t- anywhere.

It's a bit hard disagreeing with the author himself.

Best wishes

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

Hi Jenni Yes, this is a possibility - wistful, pensive or even enigmatic. Still, I don't want to read too much into it either. Good to see you here at kudoz!

Jennifer Caisley May 30, 2019:

You're right - this is odd! Hi there Ramey :)
I'm foxed by this, too - with a brief bit of research, it does seem that 'schwermuettig' is solely used analogously to sad/melancholy etc (as, for example, in this rather old text (https://bit.ly/30WfkCw) which talks about being "nit trawrig oder schwermuttig" ["nicht traurig oder schwermuetig", for those less familiar with old German!]). I wonder if one possible solution (especially given the context of a wedding!) could be to err slightly on the more positive side of "schwermuetig", along the lines of "pensive", "reflective", or even a "dreamer"?

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

The double 't' is intentional Also, this is poem to be read at the client's daughter's wedding. Odd, odd, odd.

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) May 30, 2019:

Schwermütig Of course, I'm familiar with schwermütig (melancholy/wistful), yet this seems so odd in this context. Could it be that the woman described is pregnant? A wordplay on heavily mothering?