English translations of Fünf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, opus 3

The dear snowdrops
Arise from the melting ice
And shake their little skirts,
Half green and half white.
The oaks are creaking,
Freed, the brook flows,
Coldness wishes to depart,
Spring awakes!

Mother Sibyl
Opens the sliding window
And, through her glasses,
She gazes up toward the gable.
Two little cats who are in love
Creep over the roof,
Coldness wishes to depart,
Spring awakes!

Who comes dancing along there
Wearing decorations on her shoes?
There is a tripping and a wagging
And a giggling at me.
A prophetic sign,
Heartened I follow,
Coldness wishes to depart,
Spring awakes!

In my garden bed I faithfully
Tended an herb,
Sweet scent wafted about it
And it was richly adorned with blossoms.
But alas the demon Envyheart
Spoiled my joy.
A billy-goat with a long beard
Came grazing and ate my little herb.
The herb was called Heart's Joy,
I found joy and sorrow in it.

Thereupon I caught a falcon
With sun-bright eyes,
And wherever I stood and wherever I went
The falcon was my companion.
But alas the demon Envyheart
Spoiled my joy.
A vulture caught my delicate falcon,
The poor thing had to die.
Heart's Joy was the name of my feathered playfellow,
It brought me much joy and sorrow.

In my heartache I travelled
Through the wide expanse of the land,
There I found a slender maiden
With silk-soft hair.
And no cunning of any evil demon
Can steal my darling from me,
For my beloved is an angel
Who only lacks wings.
Heart's Joy my beloved calls herself,
She brings me much joy and bliss

It is quiet in the forest,
Only the brook rushes on, softly murmuring;
Through twilit branches a songbird
Hearkens to [the sounds in] the greenery.

Upon the calyces of the flowers sway
Butterflies in the sunshine;
Gold-glittering beetles flew up
And hum and lull you to sleep.

We rested under the trees
In the shade upon cool moss
In sweet, blissful dreams
Of happy human destinies.

We thought we were alone,
Alone upon the world around us;
We said:  [I am] yours, [you are] mine!
And wished for nothing more.

Along came the Mistress Love
And looked upon us smilingly
And caught us up in her arms,
The woman and the overjoyed man.

She strewed flowers about for us
And sang us a magical song;
We delighted in her
And did not notice when she departed.

Mistress Love, when shall you again
Walk along the pathway in the quiet wood?
Bend down and look under the branches
And only search, you shall find us soon.

Let me rest, let me dream
Where the evening breezes gently
Rustle in the blossoming trees,
Where the nightingales’
Songs again
Ring out in the twilight of the branches!
 
Just as the silvery brightness of the moon
Plays upon the dark waves of the brook,
In this bright hour
Upon [the pathway’s]1 dark ground
Of bygone days play
Delight and lamentation.
The joy and pain of remembrance
Flare up in my heart -
 
Let me rest, let me dream
To the singing of the nightingales
Under luxuriant blossoming trees,
A long time -- a long time!

You ask me, maiden, what the west wind whisperingly
Confides to the flower-bells of the blossoms?
Wherefore from branch to branch in the boughs
The chirping birds [woo each other]1?
 
Why bud snuggles up to bud,
And wave dissolves into wave,
And why the violas of the night open themselves
To the moonbeam that disports itself upon their calyces?
 
Oh foolish questioning!  He who benefits from knowledge
Cannot lack an answer [to your questions];
Therefore wait, my child, until Love comes,
Love shall tell you everything.