Suleika | Ah, your damp wings

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sometimes misattributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) and by Marianne von Willemer (1784 - 1860)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG ENG ENG FIN FRE HEB ITA

Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen,
West, wie sehr ich dich beneide:
Denn du kannst ihm Kunde bringen
Was ich [in der]¹ Trennung leide!

Die Bewegung deiner Flügel
Weckt im Busen stilles Sehnen;
Blumen, [Augen]², Wald und Hügel
Stehn bei deinem Hauch in Thränen.

Doch dein mildes sanftes Wehen
Kühlt die wunden Augenlieder;
Ach, für Leid müßt' ich vergehen,
Hofft' ich nicht [zu sehn ihn]³ wieder.

[Eile denn]⁴ zu meinem Lieben,
Spreche sanft zu seinem Herzen;
Doch vermeid' ihn zu betrüben
Und [verbirg]⁵ ihm meine Schmerzen. 

Sag [ihm, aber]⁶ sag's bescheiden:
Seine Liebe sey mein Leben,
Freudiges Gefühl von beiden
Wird mir seine Nähe geben.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• K. Collan • F. Hensel • F. Mendelssohn • B. Randhartinger • F. Schubert • K. Zelter

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand. Fünfter Band. Unter des durchlauchtigsten deutschen Bundes schützenden Privilegien. Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. 1827, pages 185-186; and with West-oestlicher Divan. von Goethe. Stuttgard, in der Cottaischen Buchhandlung 1819, pages 166-167.

Note: Marianne von Willemer's poem Westwind was published anonymously with the title Suleika as part of Goethe's West-östlicher Divan, Buch Suleika - Suleika Nameh, with a few textual revisions by Goethe.

¹ Willemer's original poem: "durch die"
² Schubert: "Auen"
³ Willemer's original poem: "wir sehn uns"
⁴ Willemer's original poem: "Geh denn hin"
⁵ Willemer's original poem: "verschweig"
⁶ Willemer's original poem: "ihm nur, doch"

Note: modernized spelling would change "Augenlieder" to "Augenlider", "sey" to "sei", and "Thränen" to "Tränen", etc.

Text Authorship:

sometimes misattributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
by Marianne von Willemer (1784 - 1860), title 1: "Suleika", title 2: "Westwind", written 1815, first published 1819 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Nicolas Bacri (b. 1961), "Suleika", op. 126a no. 2 (2012), first performed 2013 [ voice and piano ], from Drei romantische Liebesgesänge, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Carl Banck (1809 - 1889), "Suleikas Song", op. 7 no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Karl Collan (1828 - 1871), "Suleika", 1855 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by (Franz) Carl Adalbert Eberwein (1786 - 1868), "Suleika" [sung text not yet checked]
by Moritz Hauptmann (1792 - 1868), "Ach! um deine feuchten Schwingen", op. 28 (12 Lieder) no. 5, published 1842 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Peters [sung text not yet checked]
by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Suleika", 1836 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847), "Suleika", op. 34 (Sechs Gesänge) no. 4 (1837) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Suleika", probably 1830 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Suleika II", op. 31, D 717 (1821), published 1825, first performed 1825 [ voice, piano ], A. Pennauer, VN 133, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]
by Artur Seemann (1861 - 1925), "Suleika. An den Westwind", op. 13 no. 1, published [1919], from Suleika. Sieben Lieder für eine hohe Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung, no. 1, Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt [sung text not yet checked]
by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Suleika", 1820 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 104

Suleika

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Ah, your damp wings,
West Wind, how much I envy you them;
for you can bring him tidings
of what I suffer in our separation!

The movement of your wings
awakens in my breast a silent longing;
Flowers, meadows, forests and hills
stand in tears from your breath.

Yet your mild, gentle blowing
cools my aching eyelids;
ah, for sorrow I would die
if I could not hope to see him again.

Hurry then to my beloved -
speak softly to his heart;
but don't distress him,
and conceal my pain.

Tell him, but tell him modestly,
that his love is my life,
and that a joyous sense of both
will his presence give me.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) misattributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) and by Marianne von Willemer (1784 - 1860), title 1: "Suleika", title 2: "Westwind", written 1815, first published 1819
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 114

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Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.