Siehst du den Stern im fernsten Blau,
Der [zitternd]1 fast erbleicht?
Sein Licht braucht eine Ewigkeit,
Bis es dein Aug' erreicht!

Vielleicht vor tausend Jahren schon
Zu Asche stob der Stern,
Und doch [sehn seinen lieblichen Schein
Wir dort noch]2 still und fern.

Dem Wesen solchen Scheines gleicht,
Der ist und doch nicht ist,
O Lieb', dein anmutvolles Sein,
Wenn du gestorben bist!

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Confirmed with Sämtliche Werke von Gottfried Keller: Romane + Erzählungen + Gedichte + Essays + Tagebücher + Briefe, Musaica Books, 2017.

¹ Hausegger, Schoeck: "flimmernd"; Sinding: "schimmernd"
² Hausegger, Schoeck, Sinding: "steht dort sein milder Schein/ Noch immer"

Text Authorship:

• by Gottfried Keller (1819 - 1890), no title, appears in Neuere Gedichte, in Aus der Brieftasche, no. 4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Siegmund von Hausegger (1872 - 1948), "Siehst du den Stern", published <<1905 [ medium voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder, no. 1, Leipzig, C. F. Kahnt [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Siehst du den Stern", op. 94 no. 2 (2003) [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder nach Gottfried Keller, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Othmar Schoeck (1886 - 1957), "Siehst du den Stern", op. 55 no. 3 (1941-3) [ mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano ], from Unter Sternen: Lieder und Gesänge nach Gedichten von Gottfried Keller, no. 3, Wien: Universal Edition [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941), "Siehst du den Stern", op. 11 (Lieder und Gesänge) no. 2, published 1888 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "Vois-tu l'étoile", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Caroline Diehl

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 65

Do you see the star in the most distant blue,
that, [trembling]1, nearly fades out?
Its light takes an eternity,
before it reaches your eyes!

Perhaps already a thousand years ago
the star sparkled and turned to ash,
and yet [we see its gentle light
there still]2, calm and distant.

The nature of such light,
which is and is no more,
resembles, o Love, your gracious being,
after you will have died!