Ich bin ein [leichter]1 Junggesell
  Und wandre durch die Welt,
Nomaden gleich, erbau' ich schnell
  Und breche ab mein Zelt.

Wohl träumt mir oft, es hab' ein Weib
  Sich an mein Herz geschmiegt,
Ich hab' im süßen Zeitvertreib
  Ein holdes Kind gewiegt.

Doch weg den Traum! ich bin erwacht,
  Er hat gar lang gewährt,
So lang, daß er bei Tag und Nacht
  Mir immer wiederkehrt.

Der Ausgang liegt mir stets im Sinn:
  Zum Grabe feucht und kalt
Trug man die schöne Mutter hin;
  Das Kind dann welkte bald!

[Der ganze Traum ist nun vorbei]2;
  Mein Auge wusch ich hell,
Durchwandre wieder leicht und frei
  Die Welt als Junggesell.

Zwei Locken aber, wunderbar
  Vom Traum mir blieben sind;
Die [braune]3 von der Mutter Haar,
  Die blonde von dem Kind.

Schau' ich die [goldne]4 Locke an, 
  [So]5 bleicht das Abendroth;
Und seh' ich auf die dunkle dann, 
  So wünsch' ich mir den Tod.

G. Hölzel sets stanzas 1-2, 5-7

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Gustav Pfizer. Neue Sammlung, Stuttgart, Verlag von Paul Reff, 1835, pages 160-161.

¹ Hölzel: "froher"
² Hölzel: "Doch das ist alles längst vorbei"
³ Hölzel: "dunkle"
⁴ Hölzel: "blonde"
⁵ Hölzel: "Da"

Text Authorship:

• by Gustav Pfizer (1807 - 1890), "Der Junggesell" [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 Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817 - 1890), "Der Junggesell" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gustav Adolph Hölzel (1813 - 1883), "Der Junggesell", op. 83, stanzas 1-2,5-7 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Der Junggesell", 1842 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, a translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) , "The two locks of hair", appears in Ballads and Other Poems, first published 1842 ; composed by Michael William Balfe, John Blockley, Procida Bucalossi, Lady Henry Carew, J. Balisir Chatterton, Jr., Alfred E. Houfe, Francis Romer, H. E. Stewart, T. A. Wallworth.
  • Go to the text.
    

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , John H. Campbell , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 156

A youth, light-hearted and content,
  I wander through the world
Here, Arab-like, is pitched my tent
  And straight again is furled.

Yet oft I dream, that once a wife
  Close in my heart was locked,
And in the sweet repose of life
  A blessed child I rocked.

I wake! Away that dream,--away!
  Too long did it remain!
So long, that both by night and day
  It ever comes again.

The end lies ever in my thought;
  To a grave so cold and deep
The mother beautiful was brought;
  Then dropt the child asleep.

But now the dream is wholly o'er,
  I bathe mine eyes and see;
And wander through the world once more,
  A youth so light and free.

Two locks--and they are wondrous fair--
  Left me that vision mild;
The brown is from the mother's hair,
  The blond is from the child.

And when I see that lock of gold,
  Pale grows the evening-red;
And when the dark lock I behold,
  I wish that I were dead.