This little poem translates as "The Heart's Garden," and is by Wilhelm Muller. He was the poet for Schubert's "Die Schöne Mullerin" and "Die Wintereisse." A German lyric poet of considerable ability, he lived from 1794 until 1867. Meyerbeer sets this poem with a certain amount of humor and has the music imitate the feeling of the plucking of flowers. The three strophes build the typical seduction argument that flowers will wither if they are not plucked. Meyerbeer's accompaniment, which builds on the rhythmic energy of the text, would seem to agree.

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