Sie stehen eng umschlungen
Ein Fleischgemisch so reich an Tagen
Wo das Meer das Land berührt
Will sie ihm die Wahrheit sagen
Doch ihre Worte frisst der Wind
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Halt sie zitternd seine Hand
Und hat ihn auf die Stirn geküsst
Sie trägt den Abend in der Brust
Und weiß dass sie verleben muss
Sie legt den Kopf in seinen Schoss
Und bittet einen letzten Kuss
Und dann hat er sie geküsst
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Ihre Lippen schwach und blass
Und seine Augen werden nass
Der letzte Kuss ist so lang her
Der letzte Kuss
Er erinnert sich nicht mehr
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Wow. I really love this sad song. I don’t know exactly what it is about, but I have my own interpretation which I want to share with you in bad English. It sounds like a goodbye… The end of a love between two lovers, because the female one is dying. She is going to tell him the truth and asks for a last kiss.
But why is she dying? I think because of her age or because she’s sick. “Ein Fleischgemisch so reich an Tagen” could mean that they have spent much time (many days) together. But it could also be about a disease. “Sie trägt den Abend in der Brust und weiß dass sie verleben muss” could mean that she has cancer or something? “Ein Fleischgemisch so reich an Tagen”? I don’t know.
Anyway, it’s a beautiful song. I love the lines “wo das Meer das Land berührt” and “wo das Meer zu Ende ist”, because when I listen to this I imagine beautiful landscapes. And because it fits perfectly: the end of sea and the end of her life… we don’t know what lies behind the line where it ends, is that the end or not??????
However, at the end of the song he even don’t remember the kiss, and this shows the perishableness of life… transitoriness. It sounds like something very sad, but actually it is not! Take a look at the title, ‘Nebel’ is backwards ‘Leben’, which means ‘life’ or ‘to live’. Ok, maybe I’m just thinking to deep now like I always do, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Because transitoriness makes life worth living for, it makes life interesting. I’m not able to explain this well, but I suggest you to read (or listen to) this ‘essay’. After you have done that, you will understand what I mean.
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Life Grows in the Soil of Time
(by Thomas Mann - Santa Monica, California)
What I believe, what I value most, is transitoriness.
But is not transitoriness - the perishableness of life - something very sad? No! It is the very soul of existence. It imparts value, dignity, interest to life. Transitoriness creates time - and “time is the essence.” Potentially at least, time is the supreme, most useful gift. Time is related to - yes, identical with - everything creative and active, every progress toward a higher goal.
Without transitoriness, without beginning or end, birth or death, there is no time, either. Timelessness - in the sense of time never ending, never beginning - is a stagnant nothing. It is absolutely uninteresting.
Life is possessed by tremendous tenacity. Even so its presence remains conditional, and as it had a beginning, so it will have an end. I believe that life, just for this reason, is exceedingly enhanced in value, in charm.
One of the most important characteristics distinguishing man from all other forms of nature is his knowledge of transitoriness, of beginning and end, and therefore of the gift of time.
In man, transitory life attains its peak of animation, of soul power, so to speak. This does not mean man alone would have a soul. Soul quality pervades all beings. But man’s soul is most awake in his knowledge of the interchangeability of the terms “existence” and “transitoriness.”
To man, time is given like a piece of land, as it were, entrusted to him for faithful tilling; a space in which to strive incessantly, achieve self-realization, move onward and upward. Yes, with the aid of time, man becomes capable of wresting the immortal from the mortal.
Deep down, I believe - and deem such belief natural to every human soul - that in the universe prime significance must be attributed to this earth of ours. Deep down, I believe that creation of the universe out of nothingness and of life out of inorganic state ultimately aimed at the creation of man. I believe that man is meant as a great experiment whose possible failure of man’s own guilt would be paramount to the failure of creation itself.
Whether this belief be true or not, man would be well-advised if he behaved as though it were.