This song was composed by Schiller in response to inquiries about the fate of his character Thekla in his tragedy, Wallenstein’s Death.
You wish to find me, know my home,
Now that my form has fled your eyes?
Was my work not complete below,
Did I not love and tell no lies?
Do you look for the nightingales
When you hear their melodious throngs,
Echoing through the trees and shrubs?
Their love lived through their songs.
Have I now lost eternal things?
Trust me; I am forever bound;
With them I’m wed, will never part—
Here tears need never hit the ground.
And there you will find us again,
When your love with our love compares.
And there resides my father, free
Of sin and treacherous heirs.
He knows that now the skies are clear:
The truth gleams like joyful starlings.
It is, as soon as we can trust;
He who believes unearths Holy things.
Eternal vows are realized—
Dissolved are time, and place, and day.
Don’t be afraid to dream while waking:
Deep things emerge from childlike play.
Translation © David B. Gosselin