O laß es gern geschehen,
Daß dir dein Auge blind!
Was willst du dennoch sehen,
Altes, betrognes Kind?

Willst du den Lenz erzwingen
Durch buntgefärbtes Glas?
Soll dir noch Blumen bringen
Das längst verwelkte Gras?

Die lichten Regenbogen,
Die Schlösser in der Luft,
Alter! sind fortgezogen,
Du siehst nur eis'gen Duft.

Lenz, Sommer sind geschieden,
Nur Winter siehest du.
Alter! o schließ in Frieden
Die müden Augen zu.

Confirmed with Kerners Werke, Zweiter Teil, Gedichte, ed. Raimund Pissin, Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., 1914, page 215.

Text Authorship:

• by Justinus (Andreas Christian) Kerner (1786 - 1862), "Augentrost", appears in Gedichte, in Die lyrischen Gedichte [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Augentrost", 1984, unpublished [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Comfort for the eyes", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Consolation des yeux", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-24
Line count: 16
Word count: 68