Through the years certain songs of the cycle became more important to me than others.
Since a long time it is Gefror'ne Tränen / Frozen Teardrops:
Gefrorne Tropfen fallen
Von meinen Wangen ab:
Ob es mir denn entgangen,
Daß ich geweinet hab'?
Ei Tränen, meine Tränen,
Und seid ihr gar so lau,
Daß ihr erstarrt zu Eise
Wie kühler Morgentau?
Und dringt doch aus der Quelle
Der Brust so glühend heiß,
Als wolltet ihr zerschmelzen
Des ganzen Winters Eis!
I feel the teardrops freezing
As they fall from my eyes.
How long I had been weeping
I did not realize.
Oh teardrops. My own teardrops
How can you be so cool?
How could you freeze so quickly
Like early morning dew?
And yet you spring within me,
So burning hot you rise.
As if to melt the winter,
With all its snow and ice.
(Translation by Jeffery Benton)
