Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen,
Bald werden sie wieder nach Hause gelangen,
Der Tag ist schön, o sei nicht bang,
Sie machen nur einen weiten Gang.

Ja wohl, sie sind nur ausgegangen,
Und werden jetzt nach [Haus]1 gelangen,
O, sei nicht bang, der Tag ist schön,
Sie [machen den]2 Gang zu jenen Höh'n.

Sie sind uns nur voraus gegangen,
Und werden nicht [hier]3 nach [Haus]1 verlangen,
Wir holen sie ein auf jenen Höh'n
Im Sonnenschein, der Tag is [schön]4.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Mahler: "Hause"
² Mahler: "machen nur den"
³ Mahler: "wieder"
⁴ Mahler: "schön auf jenen Höh'n"

Text Authorship:

• by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), no title, appears in Kindertodtenlieder, in Trost und Erhebung [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 Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911), "Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen", 1902, from Kindertotenlieder, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sovint penso que només han sortit a fora", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Often I think that they have only stepped out", copyright ©
• ENG English [singable] (David Paley) , "I think they have gone for just a moment", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Spesso penso che siano solo usciti!", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Tikiu, kad tik mirksniui paliko jie mus", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POR Portuguese (Português) (Paulo Albuquerque de Noronha) , "Frequentemente penso que eles só saíram", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Elena María Accinelli) , "A menudo pienso que sólo han salido un instante", copyright © 2005, (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: 12
Word count: 87