About the poem

Wandrers Nachtlied (The Wanderer’s Nightsong) is the second of two similarly-named poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in 1780.

About the poet

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German poet.

About the translator

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was an American poet.

German text

Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.

English text

Adapted from the translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

O’er all the hilltops
Quiet now,
In all the treetops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The little birds hushed in the trees:
Wait, soon like these
Thou too shalt rest.

These texts are in the public domain.