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 my father or homeland might be,
everyone asks me in vain.
I never knew the former, and my home
is whatever soil gives me fruit or flower!
Wherever destiny shows me a path,
I find a smile; I find a love.
Why give myself a thought of the past
if the present hour is happy to my heart?
It’s true, tomorrow a murky cloud
could disturb the placid sky.
But if the heaven shines blue today,
why worry about a doubtful future?
I am a plant that frost cannot denude,
that defies completely the harsh winter.
If a leaf falls here, another blooms there;
in every season, I’m loaded with flowers!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2025 by Will Crutchfield, (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: 2025-05-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 112