by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG ENG FRE GRE IRI ITA ITA NOR POR SPA TUR
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Weiß, was ich leide!
Allein und abgetrennt
Von aller Freude
Seh ich an's Firmament
Nach jener Seite.
Ach, der mich liebt und kennt,
Ist in der Weite.
Es schwindelt mir, es brennt
Mein Eingeweide.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Weiß, was ich leide!

First published in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. Ein Roman. Herausgegeben von Goethe. Zweyter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1795, pages 265-266. The poem appears in Book 4, Chapter 11 of Goethe's novel.

Composition:

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jan Evangelista Nečas) , "Táž"
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Slechts wie de hunk'ring kent", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Lawrence Snyder) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English [singable] (David Paley) , "Only my yearning shows", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Solo chi conosce la nostalgia", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • POR Portuguese (Português) (Ana Vargas) , copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Mercedes Vivas) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • TUR Turkish (Türkçe) (Gül Sabar) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Lawrence Snyder , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 48