English translations of Sechs Lieder, opus 19

I feel like a forgotten mandolin
That has been left in the hall;
Rich in wonderful sounds
Reaching the heart.

But all the sounds stay in its body,
The rich magic of the songs,
And all pain, and all desire,
Ach, its player rests.

Over Carthage’s battlefields
I rambled searching;
Where the golden corn
Ripens in the hot midday’s sun.
I saw how sea and earth
Merge to a colourful collar,
Beneath the clear sky
But ach, I did not find him. 

I pilgrimaged through
Egypt’s rich landscape;
Some glorious tombs
Host the sacred traces of old heroes.
The sunlight shines
On the pyramids,
The river waters the land
But ach, I did not find him!

Cannan! I entered your ground
For the sake of a sweet balm,
Where all sorrows rest
At the savior’s tomb.
I kneeled down onto
My flaming face,
I felt relief
But ach, I did not find him!

You will dam the stream
If it is flooded;
You will put out the red glow
Of the flames.
You will tame the hawk,
You will lame the eagle’s wings,
But, ach, you cannot
Think quietly and lead
Your love and your heart. 

You do not resign a single grain of sand
To the remote valley;
And yet you will look at all the flowers
In the springtime.
Deep from the heart, springs
The graceful love;
But, ach, you cannot
Discover the wealth of the rose
And cover the rose with snow.

Ahead with the bird’s flight,
Ahead!, ahead, my horse in stormy escape!
Because the murdered enemy lies
Down there in the rocky gorge.
Halala leila halala!

Moonlight is shaking! In the desert
A shadow is approaching.
And the mare bites the bridle,
It shudders, snuffles and strains its ears.
Halala leila halala!

Yusuf lowers the lancehead
With a vengeance, he cheers up the animal.
But motionless, the shadow
Stands in his way and laughs.
Halala leila halala!

The mare turns backwards
Blusters in stormy escape.
And the shattered murdere lies
Besides the enemy in the rocky gorge.
Halala leila halala!

 Pretty cradle of my sorrows,
 pretty tombstone of my rest,
 pretty town - we must part, -
 farewell! I call to you.
 
 Farewell, you holy threshhold,
 across which my darling would tread;
 farewell! you sacred spot
 where I first saw her.
 
 Would that I had never seen you,
 lovely queen of my heart!
 Never would it then have happened,
 that I would now be so wretched.
 
 I never wished to touch your heart,
 I never begged for love;
 all I wished was to lead a quiet life
 where your breath could stir me.
 
 Yet you yourself pushed me away from you,
 with bitter words at your lips;
 Madness filled my senses,
 and my heart is sick and wounded.
 
 And my limbs are heavy and sluggish;
 I'll drag myself forward, leaning on my staff, 
 until I can lay my weary head 
 in a cool and distant grave. 

Upon a [sharp]1 cliff edge
There looms a strong tower
That gazes far across the land,
And defies the storm so proudly.
   Below so dully and heavily
   Rolls the eternal sea;
The waves know neither rest nor repose,
They moil and swirl without end.

Of what use is, oh floodwaters, your agitation?
Your thousand-year-long threatening?
Your rolling waves are mocked
By the sturdy ward [of the castle]!
   From early morning until sunset,
   You [waves] break yourself into death;
The waves know neither rest nor repose,
They moil and swirl without end.

Valiant unto death, wave after wave
Shatters its curly head,
And has only managed to steal
A grain of sand from that place.
   Proudly the castle still stands,
   Wave upon wave passes away --
The waves know neither rest nor repose,
They moil and swirl without end.

Then comes the night.  From the west
The spirits storm forth;
Then the still, eternal sea lifts itself
Up to the height of the towers.
   Deep into the crevices hisses
   The spume, whitely and furiously --
The waves know neither rest nor repose,
They moil and swirl without end.

[You have]2 placed your trust in the reefs:
Tremble, you who live above!
The floodwaters have seized you
With a thousand-fingered fist.
   Precisely at midnight
   The tower cracks asunder --
The waves know neither rest nor repose,
They moil and swirl without end.