Ah, if only I were a little bee | Ah, if only I were a little bee

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by (Karl) Wilhelm Osterwald (1820 - 1887)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Ach, wenn ich doch ein Immchen wär'

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Ach, wenn ich doch ein Immchen wär',
Frisch, flink und frei und klein und fein!
 An jedem süßem Blumenblatt
 Tränk' ich im Frühlingsduft mich satt.

Wie wollt' ich saugen Tag und Nacht
An all' der frischen [Blüthenpracht]¹!
 Husch! ging's zu allen Blumen hin,
 Sie wissen schon, daß ich es bin.

Die ganze, ganze Frühlingslust
Sög' ich [so]² ein in meine Brust,
 Und hätt' ich ihn so ganz in mir,
 Den Frühling, Liebchen, brächt' ich dir.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• R. Franz

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Gedichte von Wilhelm Osterwald, Dritte umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig, Verlag von F. G. C. Leuckart (Constantin Sander), 1873, p. 2

¹ Franz: "Frühlingspracht"
² Franz: "dann"

Text Authorship:

by (Karl) Wilhelm Osterwald (1820 - 1887), "Ach, wenn ich doch ein Immchen wär", appears in Gedichte, in 1. Erstes Buch: Lieder, no. 2 [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 Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Wunsch", op. 423 (Vier Lieder für eine Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1872 [ voice and piano ], Offenbach am Main: Johann André [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Franz (1815 - 1892), "Ach, wenn ich doch ein Immchen wär", op. 3 (Sechs Gesänge) no. 6, published 1844 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ah, if only I were a little bee", copyright © 2010, (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: 12
Word count: 77

Ah, if only I were a little bee

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Ah, if only I were a little bee
fresh, brisk and free and small and delicate:
from each sweet blossom 
I would sip in fragrant Spring.

How would I absorb, from dawn to dusk,
Spring's refreshing splendour.
Quickly I would fly to all the flowers
and they well know that it's me.

And all the passion of Spring
I would breathe into [myself],
And once it was entirely part of me,
I would offer, my beloved, Spring to you.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2010 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by (Karl) Wilhelm Osterwald (1820 - 1887), "Ach, wenn ich doch ein Immchen wär", appears in Gedichte, in 1. Erstes Buch: Lieder, no. 2
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 79