Walking lonely in the night one summer 

In the forest I heard the morning awaking,

Heard the wild birds asinging,

Heard the woodland echoes ringing,

And my soul was seeking rest and quiet in the forest.

 

As I walked I looked down to the water,

On the shore there a girl sat beautiful and lonely,

Weeping sadly and lamenting,

There she sat beside the water,

And she seemed so pale and friendless in her lonely sorrow.

 

“Tell me why you’re weeping all alone here,

Tell me why your eyes are full of grief and sorrow,

Oh what suffering and trouble wrench your heart with pain and longing,

Leaving you no peace or solace even in the nighttime.”

 

Then she answered me: ”my deepest sadness,

Is the fear that a ship will nevermore return here,

‘tis the ship on which my loved one,

Travelled o’er the mighty ocean,

Since he left my heart has been so heavy with this sorrow.”

 

Still she looked out to the far horizon,

Saw a cloud swiftly passing over the waters,

But it was no cloud she saw there,

’twas the ship her loved one sailed in,

Now all praise be heard on earth and heaven to our Maker.