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Wenn im Herbst die Störche ziehen, Kommt der eine zu mir her; Ach, der Glückliche kann fliehen Über Land und über Meer! Gab seit meinen jungen Tagen Ihm ein Briefchen mit am Band, Treu hat er es fortgetragen Zu dem schönen Morgenland. In den Brief hab' ich geschrieben: Zöge gerne mit dem Wind, Dich zu sehen, dich zu lieben, Dich, mein Traumbild, fremdes Kind! Und der Storch war fortgezogen, Eh' ich noch es recht bedacht, Kam im Lenz zurückgeflogen, Hat mir Nachricht stets gebracht. Kommt zurück von schönen Ländern, Bringt mir Nachricht jedes Jahr, Eine Schrift auf seid'nen Bändern Unerklärlich, sonderbar. Und so sitz' ich armer Knabe, Und der Storch am Fenster dort Sieht, ob ich geschrieben habe, Denn schon morgen muß er fort.
Confirmed with Sämmtliche Werke von Julius Mosen, Erster Band, Oldenburg, Verlag von Ferdinand Schmidt, 1863, pages 189-190.
Note: in many older editions, the spelling of the capitalized word "über" becomes "Ueber", but this is often due to the printing process and not to rules of orthography, since the lower-case version is not "ueber", so we use "Über".
Text Authorship:
- by Julius Mosen (1803 - 1867), "Der treue Bote" [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- by Walther von Goethe (1818 - 1885), "Der treue Bote" [ voice and piano ], unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emil Herold , "Der treue Bote", published 1874 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Bahn [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "The faithful messenger", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2020-03-17
Line count: 24
Word count: 124
When the storks migrate in autumn, One of them comes here to me; Ah, the fortunate one can travel Over land and over sea. Since my youth I have given it a letter, Tied with a ribbon, to take along, He faithfully carried it off To the lovely Orient. In the letter I wrote: I would so gladly travel with the wind, To see you, to love you, You, my dream image, foreign child! And the stork had flown off Before I had quite thought about it properly, In springtime it came flying back, Always bringing me news. It comes back from beautiful lands, Brings me news every year, A script upon silken ribbons, Mystifying, wondrous. And so I sit, a poor lad, And the stork at yonder window Looks to see if I have written, For tomorrow already it must be off.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2025 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Julius Mosen (1803 - 1867), "Der treue Bote"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-16
Line count: 24
Word count: 143