I knew beautiful Susie for a long time:
Beautiful Susie was indeed a fine girl;
Full of virtue she was, and demureness:
I clearly realized that.
I came and went, I went and came,
Like the ebb and flow of the sea.
I did me very much good when I came,
And when I departed, it did not hurt.

And it happened that after a time,
I felt something quite different;
When I departed, I was so sorry,
And I was so happy when I came;
Then I had no pastime,
And no business but her;
Then I felt whole in body and soul,
And felt nothing but her.

I was quite dumb and mute and deaf;
I perceived nothing besides her;
Nowhere did I see flowers and leaves burgeoning;
Only Susie bloomed for me.
Not sun, moon and the glow of stars,
For me only my darling shone;
I gazed as if into the sun,
And made my eyes blind with looking.

And again it came to a different time,
I began to feel quite differently:
But she still had all her
Virtue, demureness and beauty.
I came and went, I went and came,
Like the ebb and flow of the sea.
I did me very much good when I came,
But when I departed, it did not hurt.

You wise men, lofty and high-learned,
You who can conceive and know
How, where and when everything pairs up?
Why everything loves and kisses?
You lofty wise men, tell to me!
Brood upon what happened to me,
Brood and tell me, where, how and when,
Why it happened to me thus? --

I myself have pondered night and day,
And again day and night
About such wondrous things;
But I was not able to fathom it. -
Therefore love must be like the wind in the sea:
One hears its rushing well,
Except one knows not whence?
Knows not whither it goes?