English translations of Deutsche Lieder von W. v. Göthe für eine Sopran- oder Tenorstimme , opus 48

Why is it that you are so sad
When everything seems happy?
One can see from your eyes
That you have surely been weeping.

"And if I have been weeping alone,
It is my own sorrow,
And my tears flow so sweetly
That they make my heart light."

Your happy friends invite you,
O come to our bosom!
And whatever you have lost,
Confide in us your loss.

"You make noise and rush about and cannot understand
What it is that torments me, poor me.
And no, I have not lost anything,
Although I also lack it."

Then pick yourself up - hurry,
You are a young fellow.
At your age, one has the strength
And courage to gain what one wishes.

"Alas, no - I can never obtain it;
It is too far from me.
It dwells as high and flashes as beautifully
As that star up there."

One should not covet the stars,
One should merely rejoice in their splendour,
And with delight gaze up
At every serene night.

"And so I gaze up with delight
At so many a lovely day;
Let my nights then be spent in weeping,
So long as I may weep."

The water roared, the water swelled;
a fisherman sat beside,
gazing calmly at his fishing line,
cool to his very heart.
And as he sits there and as he listens,
the waves split
and from the turbulent water
a watery woman bursts up.

She sang to him, and spoke to him:
"Why do you lure my children
with your human wit and cunning,
up here to this deadly glow?
Ah, if you only knew how pleasant the tiny fish
find it below the surface,
you would come down, just as you are,
and you would be well for the first time.

Does not the dear sun refresh itself
and the moon as well, in the sea?
Do they not turn their faces, breathing the waves
and thus becoming doubly fair?
Aren't you tempted by the deep sky,
the moist and transfiguring blue?
Aren't you tempted by your own face
shining in the eternal dew?"

The water roared, the water swelled,
and moistened his naked foot;
and his heart filled with the longing
that he felt at the greeting of his beloved.
She spoke to him, and sang to him;
then all was done for him;
half pulled by her and half sinking himself,
he went down and was never seen again.

 Heart, my heart, what does this mean?
 What is besieging you so? 
 What a strange new life!
 I do not know you any longer.
 Gone is all that you loved,
 gone is what troubled you,
 gone is your industry and peace,
 alas! how did you come to this?
 
 Does youthful bloom shackle you,
 this lovely figure
 whose gaze is full of fidelity and goodness,
 with endless power?
 If I rush to escape her,
 to take heart and flee her,
 I am led in a moment,
 alas, back to her.
 
 And with this magic thread
 that cannot be ripped,
 the dear, mischievous maiden
 holds me fast against my will;
 in her magic circle I must
 live now in her way.
 The change, alas - how great!
 Love, Love, let me free!

A violet stood upon the lea,
Hunched o'er in anonymity;
So amiable a violet!
Along there came a young shepherdess
Light paced, full of contentedness
Along, along,
The lea, and sang her song.

Ah!" thinks the violet, "were I just
The fairest flower in the dust
For just a little while yet,
Until that darling seizes me
And to her bosom squeezes me!
For just, for just
A quarter hour long!"

Ah! And alas!  There came the maid
And no heed to the violet paid,
Crushed the poor little violet.
It sank and died, yet filled with pride:
And though I die, I shall have died
Through her, through her,
And at her feet have died."

Between wheat and corn,
Between thicket and thorn,
Between trees and grass,
Where has my sweetheart gone? 
Tell me.

  I did not find my darling 
  At home.
  My treasure 
  Must be outside.
  May is blooming 
  Green and fair -
  My love must be wandering, 
  Happy and free.

At the cliffs by the river,
where she bestowed the kiss,
that first one in the grass - 
Do I see something?
Is it she? 

Hand in hand and lip to lip!
Dearest maid, remain faithful!
I bid thee fare well; for it is many a cliff
That your beloved must sail past.
But when, after the storms,
He once again greets the harbor – 
May the gods punish him
If he enjoys any of it apart from you. 

Bravely dared is already won,
My work is already halfway done;
Stars shine for me like suns,
It is nighttime only for the timid.
Were I to be there, idle, at your side,
I would be overwhelmed with unhappiness;
Yet, here in this vastness,
Work passes quickly and it is only for you.

I have already found the valley
Where soon we will walk together,
And where, in the evening hours, a river
Tumbles down gently.
There, poplars around the meadow,
There, beeches in a grove!
Ah, and behind all of these
There will also be a tiny cottage.