La zingara
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Our translations: CAT ENG ENG FRE GER
Chi padre mi fosse, qual patria mi sia,
Invano la gente chiamando mi va;
Del primo mai seppi ed è patria mia
La terra che un fiore, che un frutto mi dà.
Dovunque il destino m'addita un sentiero,
Io trovo un sorriso, io trovo un amor;
Perchè del passato darommi pensiero,
Se l'ora presente è lieta al mio cor?
Può, è vero, il domani un torbido velo
Dell'aure serene l'aspetto turbar;
Ma s'oggi risplende azzurro il mio cielo,
Perchè rattristarmi d'un dubbio avvenir?
Io sono una pianta che ghiaccio non spoglia,
Che tutto disfida del verno il rigor;
Se fronda qui cade, là un'altra germoglia,
In ogni stagione son carca di fior.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La gitana", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The Gypsy Girl", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Will Crutchfield) , "The Gypsy Girl", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La gitane", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die Zigeunerin", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 112
The Gypsy Girl
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
Who was my father, what is my country?
In vain people go on calling to me;
What of the first thing I knew, and of my homeland?
It’s any land that gives me flowers and fruits.
Wherever fate leads me,
I find a smile, I find a lover;
Why worry about the past
When my heart is happy now?
It may come to pass that tomorrow a dark veil
Will obscure my serene appearance;
But if today my sky is a resplendent blue,
Why be sad from doubts that may not come to pass?
I am a plant that isn’t damaged by frost,
That defies all of winter's severity;
If one leafy branch falls here, another germinates there,
In every season I am laden with flowers.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 126
