English translations of Romanzen und Balladen für Singstimme und Klavier (Heft 1), opus 45

 When all the forests were sleeping,
 he began to dig
 without rest in the mountain deep:
 for a treasure did he dig.
 
 Angels of God sang
 while, in the still night,
 like red eyes, 
 metals emerged from the shaft.
 
 "And you will be mine!" and more grimly
 did he burrow and burrow downward!
 Then the stones and rubble tumbled
 down upon the fool.
 
 Scornful, wild laughter resounded
 from the collapsed vault,
 and the angelsong faded away
 sadly into the air.

Two spry youths left home
for the first time,
and set sail with jubilation in the bright,
splashing and singing waves
during the fullness of Spring.

They aspired after high things,
wishing, despite pleasure and pain,
to bring what is right into the world;
and if they went past,
their minds and hearts laughed.

The first one found a sweetheart,
whose mother bought him a farm and a house;
soon he was cradling a little baby
and looking out from a secret little room
cosily into the field.

The second one was sung to and lied to
by a thousand voices in the earth:
tantalizing siren songs pulled
him down into the enticing waves,
into the waves of the colorful abyss.

And when he surfaced from the abyss,
he was exhausted and old,
his boat lay grounded;
it was so very quiet around,
and across the waters cold winds blew.

The waves of Spring sing and splash
well beyond me;
and when I see such bold youths,
the tears swell in my eyes -
ah God, guide us lovingly to you!

 We sat at the fisherman's house,
 and gazed out at the sea;
 the evening mists arrived,
 and climbed into the heights.

 At the lighthouse the lights were
 gradually lit,
 and in the far-off distance
 was discovered yet another ship.

 We spoke of storms and shipwrecks,
 of the seaman and how he lives,
 and of hovering between sky and water,
 between fear and joy.

 We spoke of far-off coasts,
 of the South and of the North,
 and of the odd people
 and odd customs there.

 At the Ganges, it is fragrant and shimmering:
 and giant trees bloom there,
 and fair, quiet people
 kneel before lotus flowers.

 In Lapland there are dirty people,
 flat-headed, broad-mouthed, small;
 they crouch around the fire and bake
 fish, and squeak and scream.

 The maidens listened earnestly,
 and finally no one spoke any more;
 The ship was no longer visible,
 for it was now much too dark.