Ah God, how am I to sing of how precious my darling was to me

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by Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn (1834 - 1912)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Ach Gott, wie soll ich singen, wie lieb...

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Ach Gott, wie soll ich singen, wie lieb mein Schatz mir war:
Ich hab' sie sehen bringen auf einer Totenbahr.
Und will ich nun gedenken ihrer Finger weiß und fein, 
Fällt mir mit vielem Kränken ihr weißes Bahrtuch ein. 
Will durch den Sinn mir gehen ihrer Wangen roter Duft, 
Muß ich die Rosen sehn, die stehn auf ihrer Gruft!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Ritter

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Confirmed with Felix Dahn's Sämtliche Werke poetischen Inhalts, Band XVI, Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1898, page 65.

Text Authorship:

by Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn (1834 - 1912), no title, appears in Schlichte Weisen, no. 1 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-07-10
Line count: 6
Word count: 61

Ah God, how am I to sing of how precious...

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Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Ah God, how am I to sing of how precious my darling was to me:
I have seen her being carried upon a bier.
And when I now want to think of her fingers, white and delicate,
With much grief I am reminded of her white mortcloth.
If the red scent of her cheeks wishes to waft through my mind,
I am forced to see the roses that bloom upon her grave!

About the headline (FAQ)

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Translations of title(s):
"Ach Gott, wie soll ich singen" = "Ah God, how am I to sing"
"O Gott, wie sollt' ich singen" = "Oh God, how could I sing"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2019 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 Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn (1834 - 1912), no title, appears in Schlichte Weisen, no. 1
- Go to the text page.

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This text was added to the website: 2019-12-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 73