I would like to live upon the mountains,
Upon the alps, sublime and silent;
I would like to drift with the clouds
Toward the distant, treasured goal.
But only in tears and with yearning
My eyes ever gaze thither,
Where the silver brows of the old snows
Glow far out into the land.

  I am again drawn toward the mountain
With unceasing power,
When I hear voices, when I hear songs
That the echo sounds back to me.
But only in tears and with yearning
My eyes ever gaze thither,
Where the silver brows of the old snows
Glow far out into the land.

  When suffused with the sunbeams of morning
The valley's flowers bloom in silence,
I think of the alpine roses
That flee the tending of mankind.
But only in tears and with yearning
My eyes ever gaze thither,
Where the silver brows of the old snows
Glow far out into the land.

  In the lowlands, ah, in vain
I seek the trace of my happiness,
The joy and peace of my life
Only thrones upon the heavenly heights!
But only in tears and with yearning
My eyes ever gaze thither,
Where the silver brows of the old snows
Glow far out into the land.