O, du min källa sval,
O, du min ros så röd,
Ros, som så snart slog ut!
Vem skall jag ge dig åt?
Månne åt moder min?
Har ju ej moder mer.
Månne åt syster då?
Fjärran hos maken hon.
Månne åt broder då?
Drog ju i härnad han.
Månn' åt min älskling då?
O; han är långt från mig
Bakom tre skogars löv,
Bakom tre strömmars våg.

Note: modernized spelling; the original would have "hvem" instead of "vem", "fjerran" instead of "fjärran", and "löf" instead of "löv".

Text Authorship:

• by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Till en ros", appears in Lyriska dikter I [author's text checked 1 time 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 Tor Aulin (1866 - 1914), "Till en ros", 1903 [ voice and piano ], from Vier serbische Volkslieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilhelm (Vilhelm) Eugen Stenhammar (1871 - 1927), "Till en ros", op. 8 no. 4 (1895) [ voice and piano ], from Fem visor ur "Idyll och epigramm" (J. L. Runeberg), no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Marc Moreau) , "To a rose", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Marc Moreau) , "À une rose", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Einer Rose", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 68

Oh, you my spring so cool,
oh, you my rose so red,
rose that so soon unfurled!
To whom shall I give you? 
Perhaps to my mother?
I have no mother more.
Perhaps to my sister?
She's away with her mate.
Perhaps to my brother?
He's gone to war.
Perhaps to my darling then?
Oh, he is far away
beyond three forest fronds,
beyond three river floods.