| Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916. | | | | The Forest Lake | | By Heinrich Leuthold (1827–1879) |
| | | HOW beautiful thou art, O deep, blue lake! | |
| The gentle west wind hesitates to blow, | |
| The timid lily only dares to break | |
| Thy placid mirror with its flower of snow. | |
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| And here no anglers rude thy depth desire, | 5 |
| No boats upon thy water’s peace intrude, | |
| And like an anthem sung by nature’s choir, | |
| The forest murmurs through this solitude. | |
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| Wild roses strew the incense of the wood | |
| And fragrant pines that gird thee, proud and high, | 10 |
| As if, like pillars of a church, they stood | |
| To bear the dome of blue and cloudless sky. | |
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| Ah, once I knew a soul, so calm and grave, | |
| Locked from the world with seals—the seals were seven— | |
| Like thee, so lucid, deep, without a wave, | 15 |
| Created but, like thee, to mirror heaven. | | | | |
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