Der Sommer [geht]1 zu Ende, 
  Ach Liebchen, gehst auch du 
  Und läßt mich ohne Ruh'
Bei dieser Sonnenwende?

Wenn alle Vöglein fliehen
  Und keines bleiben will,
  Dann wird's im Walde still,
Bis sie zurücke ziehen;

Doch wen verläßt die Liebe,
  Dem ist's im Herzen gar,
  Als ob viel tausend Jahr'
Der eine Winter bliebe.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Gedichte von Wilhelm Osterwald, Dritte umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig, Verlag von F. G. C. Leuckart (Constantin Sander), 1873, p. 16.

¹ Franz: "ist"

Authorship

• by (Karl) Wilhelm Osterwald (1820 - 1887), "Sonnenwende", appears in Gedichte, in 1. Erstes Buch: Lieder, no. 16 [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 Robert Franz (1815 - 1892), "Sonnenwende", op. 37 (Sechs Gesänge) no. 5 (1866?), published 1866 [voice and piano], Leipzig, Kistner [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Hans Huber (1852 - 1921), "Sommerwende", op. 29 no. 3, published 1878 [men's chorus], from Sechs Lieder im Volkston für Männerchor, no. 3, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [
   text not verified 
  ]

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

• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English [singable] (E. S. Willcox) , title 1: "Summer solstice"

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2013-12-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 54

The summer [approaches its end]1,
  Ah darling, are you too departing
  And leaving me without peace
At this solstice?
 
When all the little birds flee
  And none of them wishes to stay,
  Then it grows quiet in the forest
Until they return;
 
But he whom love forsakes,
  In his heart he feels
  As if for many thousands of years
There has been an unending winter.