The opening piano introduction sets the stage for a dialogue in which a young girl, wary of the "wild" appearance of a new acquaintance, asks to be left alone but is gradually comforted by his assurances that all he wants to do is hold her.  
The text is taken from a poem by German writer Matthias Claudius, and the work begins with one of the composer's signature rhythmic devices - a quarter note followed by triplet eighths.  The opening piano introduction sets the stage for a dialogue in which a young girl, wary of the "wild" appearance of a new acquaintance, asks to be left alone but is gradually comforted by his assurances that all he wants to do is hold her.  The final word, "sleep," plunges down to a low D as this song comes to an end.  Not surprisingly, the composer used its music in his 1824 String Quartet in D minor of the same name, which happened to inspire a novel by Ariel Dorfman.  FTP, name this composition by Franz Schubert.
The text is taken from a poem by German writer Matthias Claudius, and the work begins with one of the composer's signature rhythmic devices - a quarter note followed by triplet eighths.  
Death and the Maiden or Der Tod und Das Madchen