Back and forth fly arrows | Back and forth fly arrows

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by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Hin und wieder fliegen Pfeile

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG FRE GRE

Hin und wieder [fliegen]¹ Pfeile;
Amors leichte Pfeile fliegen
Von dem schlanken goldnen Bogen;
Mädchen, seyd ihr nicht getroffen?
Es ist Glück! Es ist nur Glück.

Warum fliegt er so in Eile?
Jene dort will er besiegen;
Schon ist er vorbei geflogen;
Sorglos bleibt der Busen offen;
Gebet Acht! Er kommt zurück!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

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View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe lezter Hand, Zehnter Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 208-209.

¹ Schubert: "fliegen die"

Text Authorship:

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title, written 1787/88, appears in Claudine von Villa Bella [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Hin und wieder fliegen die Pfeile", D 239 no. 3 (1815), published 1893 [ soprano and piano or orchestra ], from operetta Claudine von Villa Bella, no. 3, Ariette der Lucinde [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 53

Back and forth fly arrows

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Back and forth fly arrows;
Cupid's light arrows fly
from his slender, golden bow.
Maidens, have you not been struck?
It is Fate! It is only Fate.

Why does he fly in such haste?
That one there he wishes to conquer;
but he has already flown past,
and her open heart remains care-free.
Take heed! He is coming back!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2008 by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title, written 1787/88, appears in Claudine von Villa Bella
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-21
Line count: 10
Word count: 59