Über allen [Gipfeln]1
Ist Ruh',
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die [Vögelein]2 schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand. Erster Band. Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. 1827, page 109; and with Goethe's Werke. Erster Band. Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. 1815, page 99.

Note: in many older editions, the spelling of the capitalized word "über" becomes "Ueber", but this is often due to the printing process and not to rules of orthography, since the lower-case version is not "ueber", so we use "Über".

See also J.D. Falk's poem Unter allen Wipfeln ist Ruh.

¹ Flügel, Gaugler, Hasse, Radecke: "Wipfeln" (according to the incipits given in Hofmeister) ; further changes may exist not noted above.
² Greith, Schubert: "Vöglein"
³ Lachner adds

Über allen Wipfeln
Ist Ruh',
Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Text Authorship:

• by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Ein Gleiches", written 1780, first published 1815

See other settings of this text.

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

• AFR Afrikaans [singable] (Robert Schall) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Karel Dostál-Lutinov) , "Počkej", first published 1917
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Wim Reedijk) , "Boven alle bergen", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Trekkers nachtlied II", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Over all the peaks it is peaceful", copyright ©
• ENG English [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Edgar Alfred Bowring) , "The wanderer's night-song", appears in The Poems of Goethe, first published 1853
• ENG English [singable] (Arthur Westbrook) , "Wanderer's night song"
• ENG English (Patrick John Corness) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Yölaulu", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le chant de nuit du voyageur II", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Au sommet de tous les pics", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sopra ogni vetta", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Canto notturno del viandante I", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• RUS Russian (Русский) (Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky) , no title
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Mercedes Vivas) , "Sobre todas las cumbres", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 24

Over all the treetops
   is rest,
A gentle breeze
  scarcely stirs their waving crest;
All the birds are silent
  each in his quiet nest.
So my heart, waiting,
  soon will rest.