| Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916. | | | | Winter Night | | By Gottfried Keller (1819–1890) |
| | | NOT a wing was beating in the night, | |
| Dazzling white and peaceful lay the snow, | |
| Not a cloud hung o’er the starry light, | |
| Frozen was the lake—all calm below. | |
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| There a tree was growing from the deep, | 5 |
| In the ice its crown was frozen fast; | |
| And the mermaid climbed the branches steep, | |
| Peering through the greenish ice at last. | |
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| There I stood upon the glassy sheet— | |
| Glass that barred me from that depth so dark; | 10 |
| Well I could, beneath my very feet, | |
| All her white and wondrous beauty mark. | |
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| At the hard, hard roof, from place to place, | |
| Still she gropes, from stifled anguish sore; | |
| I shall not forget that dusky face, | 15 |
| In my mind it lingers evermore! | | | | |
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