My heart is like the dark night,
when all the treetops rustle;
There rises the moon in full splendour
from among clouds softly,
and behold, the forest grows silent in deep listening.

The moon, the bright moon are you:
In your abundance of love
cast a glance to me
full of heavenly peace,
and behold, this unquiet heart becomes still.

And though you may place between me and her
Broad rivers and valleys and hills,
Ye stern lords, ye shall never separate us,
The song, the song has wings.
I am a minstrel, well known,
I take myself off on a journey,
And from now on I shall sing through the whole land
Only the one lay:
    I love you, you sweet one,
    You my joy and agony,
    I love you and I greet you
    A thousand, thousand times!

And when I wander through the leafy forest,
Where finch and blackbird dart:
The little folk soon overhear my song
And begin to whistle it.
And upon the heath the wind hears it
And merrily spreads its wings,
And carries it quickly across the broad river
And over the mountains and further on:
    I love you, you sweet one,
    You my joy and agony,
    I love you and I greet you
    A thousand, thousand times!

Though city and village, through meadow and wheatfield
I play it upon my travels,
Soon by the water-spring at night
The maids with their jugs sing it,
The huntsman hums it
While spooring in the beech grove;
The fisherman throws his net into the sea
And sings it to the sound of his oar strokes:
    I love you, you sweet one,
    You my joy and agony,
    I love you and I greet you
    A thousand, thousand times!

And the brisk wind and the woodland birds,
And fishermen, maids and hunters,
They must all be messengers
And carriers of my love.
Thus in the end it comes in earnest,
It comes in jest to your ears;
And when you hear it, your heart throbs,
You discern who sent [the message]:
    I love you, you sweet one,
    You my joy and agony,
    I love you and I greet you
    A thousand, thousand times!

From the mountains down into the valley,
From the valley to the heights again,
I have done this a thousand times,
Springtime leading me forward.

The stream in the red of morning
Sparkles along the curl of the bank;
The moon, herald of peace,
Travels along with me in the sky.

And all the birds, they sing
So wonderfully in the forest
Of a thousand marvelous things
That I have yet to discover.

They sing: Far ahead in the distance
Rustles a wooded dale;
Two sacred stars twinkle within,
A mouth of many roses blooms within.

The stars, they will greet you
As reverently as they have ever done,
The mouth, the mouth you will kiss,
You privileged explorer!