Submitted by Maiko Heller on Mo, 07/25/2011 - 19:16
26
Guter Mond, du gehst so stille
Good moon, you move so silently

Guter Mond, du gehst so stille

in den Abendwolken hin,

bist so ruhig, und ich fühle,

dass ich ohne Ruhe bin.

Traurig folgen meine Blicke

deiner stillen heiter’n Bahn.

O wie hart ist mein Geschicke,

dass ich dir nicht folgen kann!

 

Guter Mond, dir darf ich’s klagen,

was mein banges Herze kränkt,

und an wen mit bitter’n Klagen

die betrübte Seele denkt!

Guter Mond, du sollst es wissen,

weil du so verschwiegen bist,

warum meine Tränen fließen

und mein Herz so traurig ist.

Good moon, you move so silently

within the clouds of dusk,

you are so calm, and I feel

that I am restless.

Sadly, my sights follow

your quiet happy course.

Oh, how hard is my fate

that I can’t follow you!

 

Good moon, I can mourn to you,

what is grieving my anxious heart,

an whom with bitter sorrow

the mournful soul is thinking of!

Good moon, you ought to know,

because you’re so reticent,

why my tears are running

and my heart is so sad.

It is unknown where the lyrics and the melody of this song originated, but there has been written evidence of this song from about 1800 onwards. Although at the end of the 19th century, folk song researchers deemed this song boring and unpoetic, it still never completely lost its popularity (in arts, the moon was and still is always associated with love), and today, it is still one of the most popular folk songs in Germany.