Oh! se tu fossi meco
Sulla barchetta bruna,
Che al raggio della luna
Vedi pel mar fuggir!

Oh! se tu fossi meco,
Ti rapirei, mio Bene,
Alle infelici arene
Dove dobbiam languir.

Soli [per l'ampio]1 seno
Dell'Oceán [dormente]2,
Soli del ciel tacente
Sotto l'immenso vel,

Libero pianto almeno
Sparger potremmo [uniti]3,
[Lamenti non traditi
Da testimon crudel]4.

E in rammentar gli orrori
Di questa vita oscura,
La tua, la mia sventura,
Ed il commun soffrir;

Stancati vïatori,
Noi chiederemmo al mare,
O porto per posare,
O abisso per morir.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Liriche del Cavalier Felice Romani, Volume 2, Napoli, Tipografia di Francesco Saverio Tornese, 1858, page 37.

¹ Glinka, Hiller: "sull'ampio"
² Glinka: "gemente"
³ Glinka: "lamenti"
⁴ Hiller: "lamenti non uditi/ da testimon crudel,/ non traditi"

Text Authorship:

• by Felice Romani (1788 - 1865), "Il desiderio", subtitle: "Romanza II", written 1824 [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 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 - 1857), "Il desiderio" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ferdinand von Hiller (1811 - 1885), "Il desiderio", op. 23 no. 6, published 1843 [ voice and piano ], from Sei pezzi per canto = Sechs Gesänge für eine Signstimme, no. 6, Milan: Ricordi / Berlin & Paris: Schlesinger, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Ti rapirei!", 1873, published 1873 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Christoph Grünbaum (1785 - 1870) ; composed by Ferdinand von Hiller.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• ENG English (Anne Evans) , "Desire", copyright © 2006, (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: 24
Word count: 96

Oh, if only you were with me
on the dark boat
so you could see the rays of the moon
slipping away over the sea!

Ah, if you were with me
I would kidnap you, my darling
and take you from the unhappy places 
where we might languish.

Alone on the wide ranging bosom 
of the moaning ocean,               
alone under the immense veil 
of the  silent sky.
                              
Free ... at least I can cry,                     
scattering and carrying our laments,
laments not giving away 
a cruel Fate.

And recalling the horrors
of this dark life,
your misfortune and mine ...
and our mutual suffering ...

Like tired travellers,
we would ask the sea 
or harbour to lay us down
in the abyss to die.