O hätt' ich so viel Lieder,
Als Wellen du, mein Meer!
Ich [schriebe]1 sie [dir]2 nieder,
Und brächte sie dir her.
Mein ganzes Fühlen, Denken,
Ja, all mein [irdnes]3 Sein,
[Ich wollt's in dich]4 versenken,
Du mein [kristallener]5 Schrein,
Du meiner Augen Weide,
Du meines Hierseins Glück,
Früh meine erste Freude
Und nachts mein letzter Blick.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Marie-Luise von Ingenheim, Sissy. Band 3 - Ein Herz und eine Krone, no page numbers (about 7/8 to the end).

¹ Fries: "schrieb"
² Fries: "alle"
³ Fries: "inn'res"; Weingartner: "irres"
⁴ Fries: "In dich möcht' ich's"; Weingartner: "Ich wollt's in dir"
⁵ Fries: "krystall'ner"

Text Authorship:

• by Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Herzogin in Bayern (1837 - 1898), no title, appears in Das poetische Tagebuch [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 Albin Fries (b. 1955), "Widmung", op. 50 no. 1 (2016) [ voice and piano ], from 17 Lieder nach Texten der Kaiserin Elisabeth von Österreich (Sisi poems), no. 1, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Felix Paul Weingartner (1863 - 1942), "Am Strand", op. 89 no. 1, from Drei Gedichte von Elisabeth, Kaiserin von Österreich, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Dr. Sorcha de Brún) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• IRI Irish (Gaelic) (Dr. Sorcha de Brún) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-14
Line count: 12
Word count: 61

If I had a song in my heart for each wave, 
The wild waves, and if you were my sea!
I would sing an eternal gift of my love,
And dedicate this ocean of passion to thee. 
All my thoughts, my desires and my needs, 
For you, all my being and all of my art, 
From the deep well of the world like a seed 
Grows the faithful shrine of my heart. 
To see you is a feast for my eyes, 
Words of love fall from my lips at first light, 
As fortune weaves its path through our lives, 
Your face is my sunset’s sweet night.