It has a very nice melody, and lyrics are included in a MIDI file, which has no title, only a number - Gezang 139 (a hymn number, perhaps). The first phrase of the lyrics is traditionally the title and it is given as this:
Komt, verwondert u hier, mensen,
When I translate this with Babelfish, I get:
Surprise you come here, people,
Well, this English phrase is a bit awkward, and I think it can be improved upon. Can someone help?
I think even in old Dutch that ‘komt’ would be an imperitive, so ‘come’ would still work. Maybe “Come, people, to feel the wonder” which scans, and might work with the lines that follow.
Thanks to both of you. I didn’t even consider that the lyrics were ancient.
Here’s all of the first verse, to help with context:
Komt, verwondert u hier, mensen,
ziet, hoe dat u God bemint,
ziet vervuld der zielen wensen,
ziet dit nieuwgeboren kind!
Ziet, die 't woord is, zonder spreken,
ziet, die vorst is, zonder pracht,
ziet, die 't al is, in gebreken,
ziet, die 't licht is, in de nacht,
ziet, die 't goed is, dat zo zoet is,
wordt verstoten, wordt veracht.
I am especially curious about the " 't "; it resembles a contraction of a word.
't in this case is probably “het” or “dat” depending on the verse.
Also notworthy with religious text: it’s always written so that it’s a good song, but sometimes the rhyme is more important than the meaning and results in words being placed at places they shouldn’t be.
It looks like the meter is 8-7-8-7… There’s probably a name for this in poetry. Anyway, with the help of Babelfish (since I don’t speak Dutch) here is a shot at retaining the sense of the original while attempting to keep the same pattern so you’ll still be able to sing it.
Come you here to be astonished!
Look at how you love your God!
Look at your souls’ dream incarnate,
Look upon this newborn child.
See the word that is, in silence,
See the treasure, in the dirt,
See that all that is, is nothing,
See the light, enwrapped with night,
See the goodness, see the sweetness
Here abandoned, here is scorned.
The other thing the original does is rhyme the first and third line, and second and fourth lines in the first two “verses,” as well as the last lines in the second verse and the couplet at the end. I didn’t do that. I’m not quite happy with the “See the light, enwrapped with night,” line, it isn’t as punchy as the other lines in that verse. Too many syllables after the comma, I think. Problem is what to do to add a syllable before the comma… See the lightness doesn’t have the right meaning. Brightness, maybe? See the brightness, hid in night?
