by Ludwig Rellstab (1799 - 1860)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Auf dem Strom
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Available translation(s): CAT CHI DUT ENG FRE ITA
Nimm die letzten Abschiedsküsse,
Und die wehenden, die Grüße,
Die ich noch ans Ufer sende
Eh' Dein Fuß sich scheidend wende!
Schon wird von des Stromes Wogen
Rasch der Nachen fortgezogen,
Doch den [thränendunklen]1 Blick
Zieht die Sehnsucht stets zurück!

Und so trägt mich denn die Welle
Fort mit unerflehter Schnelle.
Ach, schon ist die Flur verschwunden
Wo ich selig Sie gefunden!
Ewig hin, ihr Wonnetage!
Hoffnungsleer verhallt die Klage
Um das schöne Heimathland,
Wo ich ihre Liebe fand.

Sieh, wie flieht der Strand vorüber,
Und wie drängt es mich hinüber,
Zieht mit unnennbaren Banden,
An der Hütte dort zu landen,
In der Laube dort zu weilen;
Doch des Stromes Wellen eilen
Weiter, ohne Rast und Ruh,
Führen mich dem Weltmeer zu!

Ach, vor jener dunklen Wüste,
Fern von jeder heitern Küste,
Wo kein Eiland zu erschauen,
O, wie faßt mich zitternd Grauen!
Wehmuthsthränen sanft zu bringen,
Kann kein Lied vom Ufer dringen;
Nur der Sturm weht kalt daher
Durch das grau gehob'ne Meer!

Kann des Auges sehnend Schweifen
Keine Ufer mehr ergreifen,
Nun so [blick']2 ich zu den Sternen
[Dort]3 in jenen heil'gen Fernen!
Ach bei ihrem milden Scheine
Nannt' ich sie zuerst die Meine;
Dort vielleicht, o tröstend Glück!
Dort begegn' ich ihrem Blick.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Ludwig Rellstab. Erstes Bändchen. Berlin, bei Friedrich Laue. 1827, pages 120-121; and with Mitternachtblatt für gebildete Stände. Herausgegeben von Müllner. 1826, Zweiter Band. Braunschweig, bei Friedrich Vieweg. No. 92. Braunschweig, am 2. August 1826, page 368.

1 Rellstab (Mitternachtblatt): "thränend dunklen"
2 Schubert: "schau'"
3 Schubert: "Auf"

Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "En el corrent de les aigües", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CHI Chinese (中文) (Liu Xin (刘昕)) , "河上", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Op de rivier", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "On the river", copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sur la rivière", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sulla corrente", copyright © 2004, (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: 40
Word count: 206

On the river
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Take the last parting kiss,
and the wavy greeting
that I'm still sending ashore
before you turn your feet and leave!
Already the waves of the stream
are pulling briskly at my boat,
yet my tear-dimmed gaze
keeps being tugged back by longing!

And so the waves bear me forward
with unsympathetic speed.
Ah, the fields have already disappeared
where I once discovered her!
Blissful days, you are eternally past!
Hopelessly my lament echoes
around my fair homeland,
where I found her love.

See how the shore dashes past;
yet how drawn I am to cross:
I'm pulled by unnameable bonds
to land there by that little hut
and to linger there beneath the foliage;
but the waves of the river
hurry me onward without rest,
leading me out to the sea!

Ah, before that dark wasteland
far from every smiling coast,
where no island can be seen -
oh how I'm gripped with trembling horror!
Gently bringing tears of grief,
songs from the shore can no longer reach me;
only a storm, blowing coldly from there,
can cross the grey, heaving sea! 

If my longing eyes, surveying the shore, 
can no longer glimpse it,
then I will gaze upward to the stars
into that sacred distance!
Ah, beneath their placid light
I once called her mine;
there perhaps, o comforting future!
there perhaps I shall meet her gaze.

Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 229