Das zerbrochene Ringlein

Das zerbrochene Ringlein
by Joseph von Eichendorff
The poem as a song in Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch, Lahr, 1896
First published in	1813 (1813)
Language	German
Subject(s)	unhappy love
Rhyme scheme	abab
Publisher	Justinus Kerner
Lines	20

"Das zerbrochene Ringlein" (The broken little ring) is a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff, which can be found also titled as Lied (lay, or song), first published 1813 by Justinus Kerner et al. in the almanac Deutscher Dichterwald (German Poets’ Forest) under the pseudonym "Florens" and afterwords in his novel Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts. 1807/08 Eichendorff pondered in his diaries about his unhappy love affair with Käthchen Förster, the daughter of a Heidelberg cellarman, during his student days. This fact is remembered by a memorial stone at the Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk) in Heidelberg, along the Neckar.

In 1814, Eichendorf's love poem was set to music by Friedrich Glück, and became popular under the title "In einem kühlen Grunde" (In a cool valley), taken from the first verse of the first stanza. The poem can be heard in recent versions by Comedian Harmonists, Heino, and Max Raabe, among others.

Romantic old mill by Robert Kummer, 1840

Text

Das zerbrochene Ringlein

In einem kühlen Grunde
Da geht ein Mühlenrad
Mein' Liebste ist verschwunden,
Die dort gewohnet hat.

Sie hat mir Treu versprochen,
Gab mir ein’n Ring dabei,
Sie hat die Treu" gebrochen,
Mein Ringlein sprang entzwei.

Ich möcht' als Spielmann reisen
Weit in die Welt hinaus,
Und singen meine Weisen,
Und geh'n von Haus zu Haus.
 
Ich möcht’ als Reiter fliegen
Wohl in die blut'ge Schlacht,
Um stille Feuer liegen
Im Feld bei dunkler Nacht.
 
Hör' ich das Mühlrad gehen:
Ich weiß nicht, was ich will —
Ich möcht' am liebsten sterben,
Da wär's auf einmal still!

The Broken Ring

Within a watered valley
A mill turns night and day;
And there my love was dwelling
Before she went away.

A little ring she gave me,
A pledge to bind her heart;
But since her troth she’s broken,
My ring has come apart.

I fain would go as minstrel
And wander far away,
And earn my bread by singing
My songs from day to day.

I fain would mount a charger
And glory seek in fight,
By silent camp-fires lying,
When falls the dark of night.

For when I hear the mill-wheel,
I know not what I will —
I fain would die, then surely
It would at last be still!

External links

• In einem kühlen Grunde, sung by Franz Porten, Columbia Hartguss-Wachswalze #50264, ca. 1905.
• In einem kühlen Grunde sung by the Comedian Harmonists