English translations of Drei Lieder für gemischten Chor, opus 82

My darling, I have built myself a castle in the air,
In it we shall dwell as a couple.
Not another so airy and amusing has ever been seen
Along the Tiber and the Danube and the Rhine.

The walls are of crystal, the roof of rubies,
The great hall is built of gold.
A table that is magically laden with food stands in the middle of it
And invites us to a merry meal.

Two marble fountains play,
We hear their sound early and late.
One of them provides us with Burgundy,
From the other bubbles forth Muscat.

Chests filled with precious jewelry
Are standing about in all the rooms,
And if you were to draw forth adornments forever
They would still never grow empty.

And round about the castle is a green grove
With flowers of strange splendour.
By day they emit a scent like foreign spices
And by night they glow like stars.

In the breezes there wafts a sound as of harps
And enticing bird-calls.
Twelve brave little horses neigh in the stable
And paw the ground with golden hooves.

That is my castle. I have created it
Like the poet creates a poem for himself.
I thought it all out in a dream
And put it together as I dreamt.

Its wondrous airy stones shimmer
And sparkle down from the heights,
And once I have discovered how to fly,
My darling, then we shall move in.