When my love has her wedding-day,
Her joyous wedding-day,
I have my day of mourning!
I go into my little room,
My dark little room!
I weep, weep! For my love,
My dearest love!
Blue little flower! Blue little flower!
Do not wither, do not wither!
Sweet little bird! Sweet little bird!
Singing on the green heath!
‘Ah, how fair the world is!
Jug-jug! Jug-jug!’
Do not sing! Do not bloom!
For spring is over!
All singing now is done!
At night, when I go to rest,
I think of my sorrow!
My sorrow!
I walked across the fields this morning,
Dew still hung on the grass,
The merry finch said to me:
‘You there, hey –
Good morning! Hey, you there!
Isn’t it a lovely world?
Tweet! Tweet! Bright and sweet!
O how I love the world!’
And the harebell at the field’s edge,
Merrily and in good spirits,
Ding-ding with its tiny bell
Rang out its morning greeting:
‘Isn’t it a lovely world?
Ding-ding! Beautiful thing
O how I love the world!’
And then in the gleaming sun
The world at once began to sparkle;
All things gained in tone and color!
In the sunshine!
Flower and bird, great and small.
‘Good day! Good day!
Isn’t it a lovely world?
Hey, you there?! A lovely world!’
Will my happiness now begin?
No! No! The happiness I mean
Can never bloom for me!
I’ve a gleaming knife,
A knife in my breast,
Alas! Alas!
It cuts so deep
Into every joy and every bliss,
So deep, so deep!
It cuts so sharp and deep!
Ah, what a cruel guest it is!
Never at peace,
Never at rest!
Neither by day
Nor by night, when I’d sleep!
Alas! Alas! Alas!
When I look into the sky,
I see two blue eyes!
Alas! Alas!
When I walk in the yellow field,
I see from afar her golden hair
Blowing in the wind!
Alas! Alas!
When I wake with a jolt from my dream
And hear her silvery laugh,
Alas! Alas!
I wish I were lying on the black bier,
And might never open my eyes again!
The two blue eyes of my love
Have sent me into the wide world.
I had to bid farewell
To the place I loved most!
O blue eyes, why did you look on me?
Grief and sorrow shall now be mine forever!
I set out in the still night,
Across the dark heath.
No one bade me farewell, farewell!
My companions were love and sorrow!
A lime tree stood by the roadside,
Where I first found peace in sleep!
Under the lime tree
Which snowed its blossom on me,
I was not aware of how life hurts,
And all, all was well once more! All! All!
Love and sorrow, and world and dream
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)