They once loved each other

Text by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
français | deutsch


They once loved each other,
but neither would to the other confess;
they saw each other as hostile,
yet wanted to perish from love.

They finally parted
and sometimes sighted the other in dreams;
they had been dead so long now
and hardly known it themselves.

They loved each other, but neither
Would utter a word thereof;
They gazed at each others like foes,
While they were dying of love.

They finally parted and thereafter,
Except in dreams, never met;
They were long dead and buried,
And they hardly knew of it, yet.

Translation by David Kenneth Smith

Translation by Joseph Massaad