On the tree in front of my window
Sat in the rough winter breath
A thrush and I asked:
"Why don't you migrate too?
Why do you stay when the storms
Roar across meadow and field
When in the far south beckons you
A sunny world?"
She1 answered in a low tone:
"Because I'm not like others
Who with time and fortune
Change their easy minds
Those that wander towards the sun
Restless from country to country
Have never known the silent glow
In their own breast
Your eye also shines brightly;
Though your cheek is pale;
But the gaze is facing inwards
Into the eternal kingdom of the sun
Let us live here together
And a song from time to time
We will sing, of withered branches
That shine of eternity."
Let us live here together
And a song from time to time
We will sing, of withered branches
That shine of eternity."
We will sing, of withered branches
That shine of eternity."
1. The german word for thrush is grammatically feminine.