rest be-located on all mountain, and you feel almost zero wind-small in all tree
Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh, in allen Wipfeln spürest du kaum einen Hauch;
Over all the hilltops is rest, in all the treetops you feel hardly a breath;
Notes (6)
- A very short poem. The fixed word order does not allow Goethe's sentence structure (“Over all the hilltops / is rest”); what is translated is the sense, and the lines follow the Senatola sentence.
- “Is rest” = sepa fale (there is rest). The place phrase has to come after the verb; Goethe's opening “Over all the hilltops” does not work, because a prepositional phrase at the front would merge with the subject (taka sepa).
- “Hilltop” = taka (mountain), “treetop” = gera (tree). The rhyme Gipfel – Wipfel is lost.
- “Hardly a breath” = lubu nomu padisa (almost no little breeze): the quantity word in front measures the one that follows. breath = padisa (wind + -is-), freely formed.
- nalu taka: the quantity applies to each single mountain.
- Sound: because nouns end in -a and verbs in -e, line endings almost rhyme by themselves (taka – gera, so – pamo). A real rhyme like Ruh – du is therefore easier than in German, but also more monotonous.