Klopstock: Time, announcer of the best joys

by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803)

Zeit, Verkündigerin der besten Freuden

Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) , “An sie”, D. 288 (1815), published 1895. Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, from The Lied & Art Song Texts Page.

Time, announcer of the best joys,
near, blessed Time: in the distance
I searched for you, shedding
too many troubled tears.
 
And yet you come! O, you are sent by angels!
Angels have sent you to me - they were once human,
and like me, they loved, and now love
as immortals love.
 
On the wings of peace, in the morning breezes,
bright from the dew of the day that smiles down from above,
with eternal Spring
you come down from the heavens.
 
For they feel whole and overflow with delight
in their hearts - these full souls -
when they think themselves beloved,
and are intoxicated with Love!

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Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock