The girl looked into the waves
By the evening glow.
There the water man pulled her
Down into the waves.

She is sitting in transparent halls,
On a golden throne of amber
And wears of red corals
A stony crown of thorns.

The waters swell and rush
Around all the dead splendor:
"Oh, if only I could listen once again
When in the morning the grove awakens."

The moon shines into the blue waves
With gentle light:
"Oh, if only I could look once again
Into the face of my mother!"

The whirlpools roll and rage
In a wonderfully deep song:
"Oh, if only once again I heard the organ,
The sound of the church bells!"

She falls at the feel of the water man;
"Oh, let me go just once,
To greet my sweet mother,
To see the earth again!'

The water man speaks: "Your children
Certainly will cry hard;
Before day and night unite,
Return to the sea!"

She has climbed up
From her crystal tomb,
Gladly lets her glance fly
In God's free air.

She greets the beach delightedly,
Where she sat as a maiden,
Holds pressed to her bosom
The swaying grass stalk.

The little tower of the chapel
Greets highly from rock and sea,
Its little bell rings brightly
All around the land.

And softer resounds today
The pious sound of the bell,
In a long procession
The people walk to the church already.

With their song books
The young girls go to God's house,
And each one, on a white hankerchief,
Carries a nosegay of carnations.

She follows to the chapel
And hesitates to go in.
But on the church's threshold
She sees her mother standing.

"Ach, dear child, Agnete,
Tell me, where you come from?"
"O Mother, Mother, pray,
I was in the blue sea."

She falls to her knees
And cries bitterly:
"You Holy Mary,
Oh, plead for me!"

And brighter and brighter welled
The hymns, the organ's song,
And duller and duller growled
The waters with a strong surge.

There on his foamy horse gallops
Across the wavy course,
The water man up the rock,
Enveloped by spraying froth.

He steps into the sacred hall,
The angels and seraphim,
The pictures of the saints,
They all turn from him.

He speaks with angry mouth:
"You have stayed long enough;
Are you forgetting that deep on the bottom of the sea
Your life grew roots?"

"And if it grew roots,
It still was love-less,
Here I breathe life and love,
I will follow you nevermore!"

His glances shine like lightning,
Wildly he dashes out
And plunges from the rock
Into the horrors of the moist depths.