If it were dark, I would lie in the forest

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by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Wär's dunkel, ich läg' im Wald

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG ENG FRE

  Wär's dunkel, ich läg' im Wald,
Im Walde rauscht's so sacht,
Mit ihrem Sternenmantel
Bedecket mich da die Nacht,
Da kommen die Bächlein gegangen,
Ob ich schon schlafen thu'?
Ich schlaf' nicht, ich hör' noch lange
Den Nachtigallen zu,
Wenn die Wipfel über mir schwanken,
Es klinget die ganze Nacht,
Das sind im Herzen die Gedanken,
Die singen, wenn niemand wacht.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Gumbert • H. von Herzogenberg • H. Pfitzner • O. Schoeck

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Confirmed with Gedichte von Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, Leipzig: C.F. Amelangs Verlag, 1892, page 228.

Text Authorship:

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 4. Frühling und Liebe, in Die Einsame, no. 3 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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Research team for this page: Jakob Kellner , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 71

If it were dark, I would lie in the...

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Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

  If it were dark, I would lie in the forest,
In the forest there is such a gentle soughing,
With its starlit mantle
Night covers me there,
The brooklets come along, asking
If I am already asleep?
I am not sleeping, for a long time yet
I listen to the nightingales,
When the treetops sway above me,
There is a sound the whole night long,
Those are the thoughts in my heart,
They sing when no one is awake.

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Translations of title(s):
"Die Einsame" = "The solitary one"
"Die Einsame II" = "The solitary one II"
"Nachts im Walde" = "At night in the forest"
"Waldesstimmung" = "Forest ambiance"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 4. Frühling und Liebe, in Die Einsame, no. 3
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This text was added to the website: 2022-04-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 81