Note: The text shown above is the exactly the way Franz Schubert used the text when he set it to music including the repeats, which reflect the repeats in the music. The original text may not have repeating phrases.

The poet, Leopold Graf zu Stollberg, was with Goethe on his trip to Zurich and the lake. We don`t know where he was when he wrote this poem. Swans are everywhere on rivers and lakes in Austria and Switzerland. The last and third stanza is somewhat puzzling as to the intention of the poet. He says "I myself will put on the shining wings and fly away like the time."

Maureen Schafer has written a "macro analysis of the music of "Auf dem Wasser zu singen." She analyzed its key progression structure and suggests that Schubert's use of harmonic progressions and rhythmic patterns musically illustrates the theme of this poem. The whole song including the piano prelude and postlude begins in a-flat minor and ends in A-flat major, but each stanza (song part) begins in a-flat minor and ends in A-flat major, which repeats twice.

http://www.tomoko-yamamoto.com/multimedia/schubert/Auf_dem_Wasser_zu_singen.html