New Spring (1831)

Leise zieht dwch mem Gemiit

Soft, aloft, the bells do ring,

Gentlest thoughts they sing me.

Ring and sing, my song of spring,

Through the blue sky wing thee

To the house of budding flowers,

Borne by Echo fleeting.

Shouldst thou chance to see a Rose—

Say, I send her greeting!

Die Rose duftet

The Rose is fragrant—yet if she doth know

Her sweet scent's meaning, if the Nightingale

Herself feels aught that through Man's soul doth flow

At sound of her enraptured madrigal,

I know not, I. Yet often much offence

We find in truth! If Rose and Philomel

Do but pretend emotion, evidence

We have enough that such lies profit well.

Wie des Monies Abbild zittert

As the moon's fair image trembles

In the troubled, tossing tides,

Though herself, serene and stately,

O'er heaven's vaulted pathway glides,

Even so glidest thou, Beloved,

Still, serene; thine image taken

In my heart but seems to tremble,

For my heart is tossed and shaken.

Es war ein alter KSnig

There was an aged monarch,

His heart was sad, his hair was grey;

Alas, poor fool, he took him

A wife that was young and gay!

There was a handsome page-boy,

Light was his heart and gold his hair;

The silken train he carried

Of that queen so young and fair.

Dost thou not know my story,

So sweet, so sad to tell?

Death was the lovers' portion

Because they loved too well.

Durch den Wald im Mondenscheine

Through the forest, in the moonlight,

Late I saw the elfin train

Pass with hunting-horns resounding,

Heard their horse-bells ring again.

Golden antlers, nobly branching,

Crowned each little snow-white steed;

Like a flight of wild swans homing

Through the glades they passed at speed.

Smiled the Fairy Queen upon me—

Smiled, and looked, and passed me by.

Does her smile mean love's renewal?

Does it mean that I must die?

Die holden Wunsche bliihen

The tender wishes blossom,

And wither at a breath,

And bloom again, and wither—

Until they cease in death.

'Tis knowing this that saddens

For me the love most blest:

My heart has learned such wisdom

That it bleeds within my breast.

Leise zieht dwch mem Gemiit translated by M. M. B.Die Rose duftet Yranslated by M. M. B.Wie des Monies Abbild zittert Translated by M. .M. B.Es war ein alter KSnig Translated by kate Freilgrath KrockerDurch den Wald im Mondenscheine Translated by M. M. B.Die holden Wunsche bliihen Translated by Margaret Armour