I love to sing this when I walk!
The melody is by Hugo Wolf with lyrics from the Mörike Lieder by Eduard Mörike*.
Read more about Eduard Mörike at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Mörike*
See and hear this beautiful rendition by sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with Gerald Moore at the keyboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRw9ObL4yJQ
And yet another translation:
With freshly-cut walking stick,
When I venture early
Through the woods I wend my way
Both up the hills and down.
Then, like small birds in the arbor,
Who sing and rouse themselves,
Or as the golden grapes
Felt the spirit of bliss
In the very first morning sun:
So feel I, my old inner Adam
Both autumn and spring fever,
Loved by God,
And ne’er forsaken,
First-born’s bliss in Paradise.
After all, you are not so bad,
Oh, old Adam,
As the strict teachers say:
You still love and you glorify,
You still sing and praise,
As though it is the first day of Creation.
My beloved Creator and Guardian.
If it really were so,
Then my entire life
Would be spent in the easy toil of hiking
Such a morning's journey!
When I venture early
Through the woods I wend my way
Both up the hills and down.
Then, like small birds in the arbor,
Who sing and rouse themselves,
Or as the golden grapes
Felt the spirit of bliss
In the very first morning sun:
So feel I, my old inner Adam
Both autumn and spring fever,
Loved by God,
And ne’er forsaken,
First-born’s bliss in Paradise.
After all, you are not so bad,
Oh, old Adam,
As the strict teachers say:
You still love and you glorify,
You still sing and praise,
As though it is the first day of Creation.
My beloved Creator and Guardian.
If it really were so,
Then my entire life
Would be spent in the easy toil of hiking
Such a morning's journey!
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*Please note: Mozart, as far as I know, had nothing to do with this; but sometimes when I type in Mörike, it comes out Mozart, and I do not know why!
