1、When man had ceased to utter his lament,A god then let me tell my tale of sorrow.WHAT hope of once more meeting is there nowIn the still-closed blossoms of this day?Both heaven and hell thrown open seest thou;What wavring thoughts within the bosom playNo longer doubt! Descending from the sky,She lif
2、ts thee in her arms to realms on high.And thus thou into Paradise wert brought,As worthy of a pure and endless life;Nothing was left, no wish, no hope, no thought,Here was the boundary of thine inmost strife:And seeing one so fair, so glorified,The fount of yearning tears was straightway driedNo mot
3、ion stirrd the days revolving wheel,In their own front the minutes seemd to go;The evening kiss, a true and binding seal,Neer changing till the morrows sunlight glow.The hours resembled sisters as they went.Yet each one from another different.The last hours kiss, so sadly sweet, effacdA beauteous ne
4、twork of entwining love.Now on the threshold pause the feet, now haste.As though a flaming cherub bade them move;The unwilling eye the dark road wanders oer,Backward it looks, but closed it sees the doorAnd now within itself is closed this breast,As though it neer were open, and as though,Vying with
5、 evry star, no moments blestHad, in its presence, felt a kindling glow;Sadness, reproach, repentance, weight of care,Hang heavy on it in the sultry air.Is not the world still left? The rocky steeps,Are they with holy shades no longer crownd?Grows not the harvest ripe? No longer creepsThe espalier by
6、 the stream,-the copse around?Doth not the wondrous arch of heaven still rise,Now rich in shape, now shapeless to the eyes?As, seraph-like, from out the dark clouds chorus,With softness woven, graceful, light, and fair,Resembling Her, in the blue aether oer us,A slender figure hovers in the air,-Thu
7、s didst thou see her joyously advance,The fairest of the fairest in the dance.Yet but a moment dost thou boldly dareTo clasp an airy form instead of hers;Back to thine heart! thoult find it better there,For there in changeful guise her image stirsWhat erst was one, to many turneth fast,In thousand f
8、orms, each dearer than the last.As at the door, on meeting lingerd she,And step by step my faithful ardour blessd,For the last kiss herself entreated me,And on my lips the last last kiss impressd,-Thus clearly traced, the lovd ones form we view,With flames engraven on a heart so true,-A heart that,
9、firm as some embattled tower,Itself for her, her in itself reveres,For her rejoices in its lasting power,Conscious alone, when she herself appears;Feels itself freer in so sweet a thrall,And only beats to give her thanks in all.The power of loving, and all yearning sighsFor love responsive were effa
10、ced and drownd;While longing hope for joyous enterpriseWas formd, and rapid action straightway found;If love can eer a loving one inspire,Most lovingly it gave me now its fire;The power of loving, and all yearning sighsFor love responsive were effaced and drownd;While longing hope for joyous enterpr
11、iseWas formd, and rapid action straightway found;If love can eer a loving one inspire,Most lovingly it gave me now its fire;And twas through her!-an inward sorrow layOn soul and body, heavily oppressd;To mournful phantoms was my sight a prey,In the drear void of a sad tortured breast;Now on the well
12、-known threshold Hope hath smild,Herself appeareth in the sunlight mild.Unto the peace of God, which, as we read,Blesseth us more than reason eer hath done,Loves happy peace would I compare indeed,When in the presence of the dearest one.There rests the heart, and there that sweetest thought,The thou
13、ght of being hers, is checkd by nought.In the pure bosom doth a yearning float,Unto a holier, purer, unknown BeingIts grateful aspiration to devote,The Ever-Nameless then unriddled seeing;We call it: piety!-such blest delightI feel a share in, when before her sight.Before her sight, as neath the sun
14、s hot ray,Before her breath, as neath the springs soft wind,In its deep wintry cavern melts awaySelf-love, so long in icy chains confind;No selfishness and no self-will are nigh,For at her advent they were forced to fly.It seems as though she said: “As hours pass byThey spread before us life with ki
15、ndly plan;Small knowledge did the yesterday supply,To know the morrow is conceald from man;And if the thought of evening made me start,The sun at setting gladdend straight my heart.“Act, then, as I, and look, with joyous mind,The moment in the face; nor linger thou!Meet it with speed, so fraught wit
16、h life, so kindIn action, and in love so radiant now;Let all things be where thou art, childlike ever,Thus thoult be all, thus, thoult be vanquishd never.“Thou speakest well, methought, for as thy guideThe moments favour did a god assign,And each one feels himself when by thy side,Fates favrite in a
17、 moment so divine;I tremble at thy look that bids me go,Why should I care such wisdom vast to know?Now am I far! And what would best befitThe present minute? I could scarcely tell;Full many a rich possession offers it,These but offend, and I would fain repel.Yearnings unquenchable still drive me on,
18、All counsel, save unbounded tears, is goneFlow on, flow on in never-ceasing course,Yet may ye never quench my inward fire!Within my bosom heaves a mighty force,Where death and life contend in combat dire.Medicines may serve the bodys pangs to still;Nought but the spirit fails in strength of will,-Fa
19、ils in conception; wherefore fails it so?A thousand times her image it portrays;Enchanting now, and now compelld to go,Now indistinct, now clothed in purest rays!How could the smallest comfort here be flowing?The ebb and flood, the coming and the going!Leave me here now, my lifes companions true!Lea
20、ve me alone on rock, in moor and heath;But courage! open lies the world to you,The glorious heavens above, the earth beneath;Observe, investigate, with searching eyes,And nature will disclose her mysteries.To me is all, I to myself am lost,Who the immortals favrite erst was thought;They, tempting, sent Pandoras to my cost,So rich in wealth, with danger far more fraught;They urged me to those lips, with rapture crownd,Deserted me, and hurld me to the ground.
