Longing for Spring - Walter von der Vogelweide

Alas, the winter has hurt us everywhere.
The forest and the heath are both so bare,
Where many a sweet voice resounded through the air.
Ah, if on the street I saw the maidens fair
Play ball, the songs of birds would be there.

I should like to sleep through winter’s delay.
Jealous I grow when awake I stay,
Because the winter has such a mighty sway.
God knows at last he yields unto May,
Where the frost lies now, I’ll pluck a nosegay

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Walter von der Vogelweide (1170 – 1228) Gremany
Translated by Margarete Münsterberg

Source: A Harvest of German Verse, edited and translated by Margarete Münsterberg, D. Appleton and Co., 1916