The Wheat & The Tares

In honor of the Magic Flute opening this weekend, I've been listening to it a lot lately. This song is definitely one of my favorites (you can pretty much just skip the first 50 seconds of this video):

This version is in Swedish which, lets face it, just makes it about 100 times cooler. It's from Ingmar Bergman's rendition which I highly recommend watching. But in case you aren't fluent in Swedish, here are the original German words with the ONLY English translation I could find (I know hardly any German, but even I can tell its a very rough, literal translation. I think it gets the point across though):

Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen, (In men, who feel love,)
Fehlt auch ein gutes Herze nicht. (A good heart is not lacking.)
Die süssen Triebe mitzufühlen, (To sympathize with the sweet instincts,)
Ist dann der Weiber erste Pflicht (Is then the wives first duty.)
Wir wollen uns der Liebe freun, (We want to be happy with love,)
Wir leben durch die Lieb´ allein. (We live through love alone.)
Die Lieb´ versüsset jede Plage, (Love sweetens every torment,)
Ihr opfert jede Kreatur. (Every creature offers itself to her.)
Sie würzet unsre Leben stage, (It seasons our daily lives,)
Sie wirkt im kreise der Natur. (It beckons us in the circle of nature.)
Ihr hoher Zweck zeigt deutlich an, (Its higher purpose clearly indicates,)
Nichts Edler`s sei, (Nothing is more nobel,)
als Weib und Mann, (than wife and man,)
Mann und Weip, (Man and wife,)
und Weip und Mann (and wife and man,)
Reichen an die Gotteheit an. (Reach to the height of Godliness.)

The kind of funny part about this song is that it was converted into an LDS hymn, which has since been taken out of the hymn book. It's called "Though in the Outward Church Below" and was based on the parable of the Wheat and the Tares. The words where written by John Newton who also wrote the words to many other hymns, including "Amazing Grace." Although it's a very effective poem, it sort of make for a rather grim hymn:

Though in the outward church below
The wheat and tares together grow;
Jesus ere long will weed the crop,
And pluck the tares, in anger, up.

But though they grow so tall and strong,
His plan will not require them long;
In harvest, when he saves his own,
The tares shall into hell be thrown.

These lines are from the 1st and 5th verse, but you can read the entire thing here. Somehow the poem just doesn't work with the tune very well. It's not too hard to see why it's not in the hymn book (especially since I don't think the words completely mesh with the Church's doctrine anyway). Still, I'm a bit sad it's not there anymore. So here is my new life goal: become a really good poet (or get really rich so I can hire one) and write new words to go with this song. I think they should be closer to the meaning of the original; something along the lines of Love or the Divinity of Man. That would be a dream come true.

Also... Mozart is a genius.