4. Numbness

I search the snow in vain
For the trace of her steps.
Where she, arm in arm with me,
Crossed the green meadow.
I want to kiss the ground,
Penetrate ice and snow
With my hot tears,
Until I see the soil.
Where will I find a blossom,
Where will I find green grass?
The flowers are all dead,
The turf is so pale.
Shall then no momento
Accompany me from here?
When my pains cease,
Who will tell me of her then?
My heart is as if dead,
Her image frozen cold within;
If my heart ever thaws again,
Her image will also melt away!

Winterreise by Wilhelm Muller
music by Franz Schubert Op. 89