Love will find out a way

Can skill disentangle
the meshes of love,
or mortal endeavour
its torments remove?
Your crafty designing
his arts will betray,
for into your scheming
Love will find out a way.

And though ye confine him
with bolts and with bars,
and though ye malign him
and mock at his cares,
the wandering breezes
would bear him away
to make of thy torments
his sport and his play.

Oh wert thou o'er mountains
or far o'er the seas,
I'd climb every mountain,
I'd cross all the seas;
or wert thou a bird
on the sunlighted spray,
to thee, love, to thee,
would I find out the way.

Authorship

from Folk poetry or song tradition (Volkslieder) , title unknown, from Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, collected by Thomas Percy

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Leslie Crabtree (1941-) , "Love will find out a way"

by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) , "Weg der Liebe II", op. 20 (Drei Duette) no. 2 (1858), published 1862 [duet for soprano and alto with piano], Bonn, N. Simrock
by Max Bruch (1838-1920) , "Weg der Liebe II", op. 49 (Lieder und Gesänge) no. 6, published 1882 [voice and piano], Berlin, Simrock

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

Notes about green, red, and white dots

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Weg der Liebe II

Den gordischen Knoten,
Den Liebe sich band,
Kann brechen, kann lösen
Ihn sterbliche Hand?
Was müht ihr, was sinnet
Ihr listigen Zweck?
Durch was ihr beginnet,
Find't Liebe den Weg.

Und wär' er verriegelt,
Und wär' er verkannt,
Sein Name versiegelt
Und nimmer genannt,
Mitleidige Winde,
Ihr schlüpftet zu mir
Und brächtet mir Zeitung
Und brächtet ihn mir.

Wär'st fern über Bergen,
Wär'st [weit]1 über'm Meer:
Ich wandert' durch Berge,
Ich schwämme durchs Meer;
Wärst, Liebchen, ein' Schwalbe
Und schlüpftest am Bach,
Ich, Liebchen, wär' Schwalbe
Und schlüpfte dir nach.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Brahms: "fern"

Authorship

by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) , "Weg der Liebe"

a text in English from Folk poetry or song tradition (Volkslieder) , title unknown, from Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, collected by Thomas Percy

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) , "Weg der Liebe II", op. 20 (Drei Duette) no. 2 (1858), published 1862 [duet for soprano and alto with piano], Bonn, N. Simrock
by Max Bruch (1838-1920) , "Weg der Liebe II", op. 49 (Lieder und Gesänge) no. 6, published 1882 [voice and piano], Berlin, Simrock

FRE French (Guy Laffaille) , "Chemin de l'amour", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Douglas Watt-Carter) , "The path to love", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2003-11-10.