The Lotus Flower

Für die Liebe!

Text by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
translated by Lawrence Snyder

Lied set by

  • Robert Franz (1815-1892), op. 25 no. 1
  • Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941), op. 8 no. 1
  • Johann Karl Gottfried Loewe (1796-1869), op. 9, H. I, no. 1 (1828)
  • Robert Alexander Schumann (1810-1856) op. 25 no. 7 (1840)/op. 33 no. 3 (1840)

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The lotus flower is anxious
In the Sun's radiance,
And with hanging head
Waits, dreaming, for Night.

The moon, who is her lover,
Awakens her with his light,
And for him she smilingly unveils
Her innocent flower-face.

She blooms and glows and gleams
And gazes silently upwards;
She sends forth fragrance, and weeps and trembles,
With love and love's torment.