In [Mond erhellten]1 Nächten,
Mit dem Geschick' zu rechten,
Hat diese Brust verlernt.
Der Himmel, reich [besternt]2,
Umwoget mich mit Frieden.
Da denk' ich: Auch hienieden
Gedeihet manche Blume;
Und frischer schaut der stumme,
Sonst trübe Blick hinauf
[Zu ew'ger Sterne Lauf]3.

[Auf ihnen quälen Schmerzen,
Auf ihnen bluten Herzen]4 -
Sie aber strahlen heiter.
So schließ' ich selig weiter:
Auch unsre kleine Erde,
Voll Mißton und Gefährde,
Sich als ein heiter Licht
In's Diadem verflicht.
So werden Sterne
Durch die Ferne!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Johann Mayrhofer. Wien. Bey Friedrich Volke. 1824, page 141.

¹ Schubert: "monderhellten"
² Schubert: "gestirnt"
³ Schubert (Neue Gesamtausgabe): "Zum ew'gen Sternenlauf"
⁴ lines interchanged by Schubert

Authorship

• by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787 - 1836), "Sternennächte" [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Die Sternennächte", op. posth. 165 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2, D 670 (1819), published 1862 [ voice, piano ], C. A. Spina, VN 9107-9118, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Les nits estelades", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De sterrennachten", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The starry nights", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les nuits étoilées", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Le notti stellate", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 82

On moonlit nights,
how to argue with fate
my heart forgets.
The heavens, rich with stars,
fill me with a sense of peace;
and I think: even here
bloom many flowers;
and more freshly do I gaze with my silent,
yet troubled look,
up to the course of the eternal stars.

On them, hearts do bleed;
on them, pains do torture;
yet they continue to shine cheerfully.
So it happily occurs to me
that our small earth too,
full of discord and danger,
is a cheerful light
interlaced into this diadem;
thus appear the stars
from a distance!