You were my only flower

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by Karl Maria Kertbeny (1824 - 1882)

Translation © by John H. Campbell

Du warst ja meine einz'ge Blume

Language: German (Deutsch) after the Hungarian (Magyar)

Our translations: ENG ENG FRE LIT

Du warst ja meine einz'ge Blume;
  Verwelkt bist du -- kahl ist mein Leben!
Du warst für mich die strahlende Sonne,
  Du schiedst -- ich bin von Nacht umgeben!

Warst meiner [Phantasie die]¹ Schwinge, 
  Du brachst -- ich kann nun nimmer fliegen!
Du warst die Wärme meines Blutes;
  Du flohst -- ich muß dem Frost erliegen!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Nietzsche

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Dichtungen von Alexander Petöfi. Aus dem Ungarischen, in eigenen und fremden Übersetzungen herausgegeben von Karl Maria Kertbeny, Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1858, page 152.

¹ Nietzsche: "Seele leichteste"

Text Authorship:

by Karl Maria Kertbeny (1824 - 1882), no title, appears in Dichtungen von Alexander Petőfi, in Cypressenblätter vom Grabe Etelka's, no. 5 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Hungarian (Magyar) by Sándor Petőfi (1823 - 1849), no title
- 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 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), "Verwelkt", NWV 24 (1864) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (John H. Campbell) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Michael Berridge) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Fanée", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Nuvytus", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-14
Line count: 8
Word count: 53

You were my only flower

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

You were my only flower,
you are withered, my life is empty.
You were the shining sun for me,
you have left, I am surrounded by night.
 
My soul swayed freely,
you are sundered, now I will never fly.
You warmed my very blood,
you have gone, I must succumb to the frost.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Verwelkt" = "Withered"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John H. Campbell, (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:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Karl Maria Kertbeny (1824 - 1882), no title, appears in Dichtungen von Alexander Petőfi, in Cypressenblätter vom Grabe Etelka's, no. 5
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Hungarian (Magyar) by Sándor Petőfi (1823 - 1849), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-14
Line count: 8
Word count: 53