Eichendorff: Forest Girl

“Waldmädchen”

by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
Set by Robert Schumann (1810-1556) in 1849.
Set by Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) in 1886-8
Translation©Emily Ezust, Lied & Art Song Texts Page

ForestGirl

.

I am a bright fire blazing

from the green rocky wreath;

the sea wind is my lover and

summons me to a lusty whirlwind dance.

 

Constantly moving and changing,

rising wildly, bending gently,

I turn my slim blaze:

do not come near me – I’ll burn you!

 

Where the wild brooks roar

and the lofty palms stand,

when the hunter listens secretly,

many deer wander alone.

 

I am a deer, fleeing through the rubble,

across the heights, where in the snow

the last summits glimmer mutely;

do not follow me, do not ever try to hunt me!

 

I am a little bird in the sky,

soaring across the blue lake;

through the clouds of the ravine

no arrow flies behind me.

 

And the floodplains, the rocky arch,

as wide as the lonely forest,

so wide! I have sunk into the waves,

ah, I have evaporated!