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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation Singable translation by C. Zincken

Forgive as I forgive
Language: English 
We parted, and in anger, 
  With half-averted eye,
You gave back ev'ry token 
  Of joyous hours gone by;
But one long day of absence
  Chased anger from my mind,
And I remember'd only 
  How good thou wert, how kind;
With sadden'd heart I sought thee,
  Thy brow was clouded yet, --
Forgive as I forgive thee; 
  Forget, as I forget.

The chain of pure affection 
  Was never snapt apart 
By thoughtless words of anger
  Which came not from the heart;
And yet for worlds I would not 
  Such hours of anguish live,
Not even for the pleasure 
  Of hearing thee forgive;
By all the pangs I suffered,
  By all thy past regret, 
Forgive, as I forgive thee;
  Forget, as I forget.

Confirmed with The Nerves, J. T. Wood, London, 1865, page 3.


Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Forgive as I forgive" [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 Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Forgive as I forgive", op. 433a (Vier Lieder aus dem Englischen für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1872 [ voice and piano ], St. Louis, Balmer & Weber; a publisher reused this opus number in 1907 so we have added the letter 'a', also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by C. Zincken ; composed by Franz Wilhelm Abt.
      • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2020-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 120

Vergib, wie ich vergeben
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Wir schieden, ach, und zürnend,
mit abgewandtem Blick
gabst du mir kalt die Zeichen
entschwund'nen Glücks zurück.
Ein langer Tag der Trennung
mein Zürnen mir vertrieb;
ich dachte nur, wie herzig,
wie gut du warst und lieb.
Ich sucht' dich schweren Herzens,
dein Aug' mich finster maß;
vergib, wie ich vergeben,
vergiss, wie ich vergaß!

Die Bande reiner Liebe
zerreißt kein barsches Wort;
im treuen Herzen glühet
die hehre Flamme fort.
Und um die Welt nicht möcht' ich
erdulden solche Pein,
auch nicht um jene Wonne,
dass du wärst wieder mein!
Bei meinen tiefen Leiden,
bei meinem tiefen Schmerz:
Vergib, wie ich vergeben,
gib mir zurück dein Herz!

Text Authorship:

  • Singable translation by C. Zincken  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Forgive as I forgive"
    • Go to the text page.

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 Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Vergib, wie ich vergeben", op. 433a (Vier Lieder aus dem Englischen für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1872 [ voice and piano ], St. Louis, Balmer & Weber; a publisher reused this opus number in 1907 so we have added the letter 'a', also set in English [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 108

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
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