Once upon a time there was a melancholy knight,
With haggard, snow-white cheeks;
He staggered and stumbled and lumbered around,
Obsessed by gloomy visions.
He was so wooden, so clumsy, so awkward
The flowers and maidens giggled
Whenever he lumbered by them.Often he sat in the darkest corner of his house;
He had broken with the world of men.
He stretched out his arms with a yearning glance,
Yet he never uttered a word.
But as soon as midnight tolled,
A strange singing and ringing began,
He heard a knock on the door.Then in glides his beloved
In shimmering, sea foam robes,
She was as radiant as a rosebud,
Her veil gleams with gems.
Golden tresses frame her slim form,
Her little eyes entice him with sweet power—
They fall into each other's arms.The knight holds her in fast embrace,
Once wooden, he now burns with desire,
Once pale, he now blushes;
Once a dreamer, he now awakes,
Once shy, he grows bolder and bolder.
But she—she teases coquettishly,
She lightly winds her jeweled white veil
Around his head.To a crystal palace beneath the sea
The knight is carried in thrall.
He stares, and he is nearly blinded
By the radiance and dazzle.
Then the nymph embraces him passionately,
The knight is bridegroom; the nymph is bride.
Her maidens play on the zither.They play and they sing—so sweetly they sing—
They kick up their heels in dance;
The knight feels he is losing his senses,
And closer he clasps the sweet vision—
Then all of a sudden the lights go out,
And the knight finds himself once more
Alone at home in his gloomy little poet's room.—Heinrich Heine
From the Prologue to Robert Schumann's 20 Lieder und Gesänge aus dem Lyrischen Intermezzo (aka Dichterliebe), via Thomas Hampson
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Herr Schumann
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