I shall forget you presently, my dear
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day,
Your little month, your little half a year,
Ere I forget, or die, or move away,
And we are done forever; by and by
I shall forget you, as I said, but now,
If you entreat me with your loveliest lie
I will protest you with my favorite vow.
I would indeed that love were longer-lived,
And [vows]1 were not so brittle as they are,
But so it is, and nature has contrived
To struggle on without a break thus far, --
Whether or not we find what we are seeking
Is idle, biologically speaking.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Wheeler: "oaths"
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Ich werd' Dich bald vergessen, teurer Schatz", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Ich werd' Dich bald vergessen, teurer Schatz
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Ich werd' Dich bald vergessen, teurer Schatz,
drum nutz ihn bestens, Deinen kurzen Tag,
Dein Monat, Deinen kurzen Halbjahrsplatz -
eh ich vergessen, sterben, wegzieh'n mag
und mit uns zwei'n ist's Schluß; denn dann, demnächst,
wie schon gesagt, vergeß ich Dich - doch g'rade nun,
wenn Du mit süßen Lügen um mich flehst,
werd' ich den liebsten Schwur des Sträubens tun.
Ich wünschte schon, daß Liebe länger wär'
und Schwüre nicht so brüchig, wie sie sind -
allein so ist's, and die Natur bisher
hat nur ein Ringen ohne End bestimmt:
Ob, was wir suchen, wir auch finden werden
ist, biologisch, ganz egal auf Erden.
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 105