Why do I avoid the routes
Which the other travelers take,
To search out hidden paths
Through snowy cliff tops?

I have truly done no wrong
That I should shun mankind.
What foolish desire
Drives me into the wastelands?

Signposts stand along the roads,
Signposts leading to the towns;
And I wander on and on,
Restlessly in search of rest.

One signpost stands before me,
Remains fixed before my gaze.
One road I must take,
From which no one has ever returned.

Text by Wilhelm Müller