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Let your praises resound! Glorified be the wonders
your might has wrought for my bliss!
Let my song in loud and joyful tones
extol the sweet delights flowing from your bounty!
My heart yearned,
my soul thirsted
for joy, ah! for divine pleasure:
what once you showed only to gods
your favour has bestowed upon a mortal.
But alas! I have remained mortal
and your love overwhelms me.
Though a god can savour joy for ever
I am subject to change.
I have at heart not pleasure alone
and in my joy long for suffering.
From your kingdom I must flee.
O queen, O goddess,
set me free!
Must I listen to this? What a song!
What mournful mood clouds your lay?
Where has that rapture flown
which inspired you only to songs of delight?
What is it? In what has my love been lacking?
Beloved, with what do you reproach me?
Gratitude for your favour and praise for your love.
For ever blessed is he who has dwelt here.
For ever envied is he who, hot with desire,
has in your arms shared the divine glow.
The wonders of your realm cast a spell.
Here I breathe the magic of unalloyed bliss.
No land in the wide world offers the like,
All it holds seems in comparison of little worth.
Yet from these rosy scents I long
for the woodland breezes,
for the clear blue of our sky,
for the fresh green of our meadows,
for the sweet song of our birdsm
for the dear sound of our bells.
From your kingdom I must flee.
O queen, O goddess,
set me free!
Faithless one! Alas, what is this I hear?
You dare to spurn my love?
You praise it but seek to fly from it?
Has my allure grown wearisome?
Ah, fair goddess! Do not be angre with me!
Has my allure grown wearisome?
It is your unbounded allure from which I fly.
Shame on you, traitor!
- Dissembler, ingrate! Ah! - Never was my love greater...
I will not let you go!
- You shall not leave me! - ...never more true than now,
- Ingrate! I will not let you go! - when I must leave you for ever!
You shall not leave me! Ah!
Beloved, come! See younder grotto,
permeated with the soft perfume of roses,
the abode of sweetest joys
which might enchant even a god.
Resting on the softest pillow,
all pain shall quit your limbs,
cool airs shall play about your burning brow,
a rapturous glow shall course through your veins.
From afar sweet sounds softly whisper
for my arms to enfold you in a fond embrace.
From my lips, from my eyes
you shall sip the nectar of the gods.
A feast of joy shall spring from our union.
Let us gladly celebrate the rite of love.
No timid offering shall you dedicate to it.
Revel in union with love's own goddess!
Come to this shore!