Springtime in old age | When the birdlets are singing in the green woods

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by Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769 - 1860)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Frühling im Alter

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

  Singen die Vöglein im grünen Wald,
Klingen die Bächlein bergunter,
Lockt es den Alten mit Lustgewalt,
Klopfet das Herz ihm so munter:
Denket der Wonnen verschiedener Lenze,
Denket der Kränze, denket der Tänze,
Fallen auch Thränen herunter.

  Singet und klinget! das Heute ist mein,
Heut will ich singen und klingen
Lustig mit spielenden Kindern feldein,
Fröhlich mit fröhlichen Dingen,
Will mir bekränzen die Locken, die greisen:
Bald muß ich hinnen und wandern und reisen,
Wo mir die Vögel nicht singen.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Reinthaler

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Gedichte von Ernst Moritz Arndt, Vollständige Sammlung, zweit Auflage, Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1865, page 417.

Text Authorship:

by Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769 - 1860), "Frühling im Alter", subtitle: "1841", written 1841 [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 Eugen Hildach (1849 - 1924), "Frühling im Alter", op. 18 (Drei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1893 [ voice and piano ], Magdeburg, Heinrichshofen Verlag [sung text not yet checked]
by Eugen Karl Petzold (1813 - 1889), "Frühling im Alter", op. 22 (Fünf Lieder für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1862 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Fr. Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
by Carl Martin Reinthaler (1822 - 1896), "Frühling im Alter", op. 17 (Sechs Lieder) no. 4, published 1864 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Springtime in old age", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 86

Springtime in old age

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

  When the birdlets are singing in the green woods,
When the brooklets are resounding as the flow down the mountain,
With the power of joy the old one is enticed,
His heart beats so spiritedly:
He thinks of the bliss of various springtimes,
Thinks of the wreaths, thinks of the dances,
Even though tears fall.

  Sing and resound! today is mine,
Today I wish to sing and ring out
Merrily with playing children in the fields,
Happy with happy things,
I shall place a wreath upon my curls, the ancient ones:
Soon I must go hence and wander and travel,
There where the birds do not sing for me.

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2026 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769 - 1860), "Frühling im Alter", subtitle: "1841", written 1841
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-01-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 116