Our Memories And Dreams Quite Suffice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Oft80h9KM

Peter Pan in Neverland sent me a gift, a German song

sung by Günter Wewel, Goodbye My Dear Homeland &

it seemed so right to me as he left South Africa about 28

years ago to live on the British Isles & I still can’t believe

that the playmate from my youth is so far away, yet every

time we talk it seems as if the years fall away & he is still

 

The same, I can jump between subjects without my having

to ask “By your leave”, we can roam as irrationally and as

inconsequently as we wish without his trying to rein in the

far-ranging conversation, without his demanding I only say

what he wants to hear, it is so much fun to talk to him and

then I realize again why intelligent, rational people around

 

Me seem so boring in the extreme, they do not follow the

rainbow promising a pot of gold at its origins, they stick to

normal rules when conversing about their health, weather

sports and cars, never wandering off to discuss religion or

fairy-tales read at home, they do not quote little dialogues

we shared so long ago - they do not recall the Duchess

 

Being funny calling swans 'flamingos' and also calling the

Thames a 'dam' - we laughed uproariously, disturbing the

the CharLord sedately reading his newspaper reports

about elephants and lion cubs in the Kruger National

Park, another safe subject Peter Pan and I need not

talk about, our memories and dreams quite suffice!

………………………………….................

Günter Wewel - Nun Ade Mein Lieb Heimatland 1998

 

Well goodbye to you my dear homeland, *dear homeland,

goodbye! I’m off to a strange country now *so I sing a brave

and cheerful song such as we sing when roaming *

My homeland’s laughing with its blue sky *& its fields and

meadows are greeting me* [so I sing a brave and cheerful

song such as we sing when roaming *] 2X

Please accompany me, my dear river *, are you sad that

I have to go away *and still further away lies my quiet valley,

& I’m greeting my valley for the last time:  dear homeland,

goodbye!] 2X

[Not a translation of the original German, more an interpretation]

------------

Nun ade, du mein lieb Heimatland, * lieb Heimatland, ade!

Es geht jetzt fort zum fremden Strand *

Und so sing´ ich jetzt mit frohem Mut,

wie man singet, wenn man wandern tut *

 

Wie du lachst mit deines Himmels blau,*

Wie du grüssest mich mit Feld und Au, *

[Und so sing´ ich dann mit frohem Mut,

wie man singet, wenn man wandern tut *] 2X

 

Begleitest mich, du lieber Fluss, *

Bist traurig, dass ich wandern muss, *

[Aus der Ferne noch, du stilles Tal,

da grüß ich dich zum letztenmal:

lieb Heimatland, ade!] 2X