(“Mein Pferd geht langsam durch die nacht.”)
(“Mein Pferd geht langsam durch die nacht.”)
My steed goes slowly through the night;The moon is half in shadow,With clouds that steal across her lightLike lambs across a meadow.A sudden stillness fills my heart,With grief so lately movèd,For in thy thoughts I have a part,Tonight, my best belovèd.In every whisper of the windThy greeting I discover;O may’st thou in the breezes findThe kisses of thy lover.
My steed goes slowly through the night;The moon is half in shadow,With clouds that steal across her lightLike lambs across a meadow.A sudden stillness fills my heart,With grief so lately movèd,For in thy thoughts I have a part,Tonight, my best belovèd.In every whisper of the windThy greeting I discover;O may’st thou in the breezes findThe kisses of thy lover.
My steed goes slowly through the night;The moon is half in shadow,With clouds that steal across her lightLike lambs across a meadow.
A sudden stillness fills my heart,With grief so lately movèd,For in thy thoughts I have a part,Tonight, my best belovèd.
In every whisper of the windThy greeting I discover;O may’st thou in the breezes findThe kisses of thy lover.
(“Schöne Lilie.”)
(“Schöne Lilie.”)
Spotless lily in the garden,Fair and high on slender stem,In the morning breeze thou wavestLike a dainty silver flame.How thy chalice opens upwardTo admit the sunlight’s gleam!Scarce unto the earth belonging,Part of Heaven dost thou seem.Ah, thou bearest greetings to meFrom a being pure as thou,Whom I called my spirit’s spirit,Once with many a loving vow;She who taught me to discoverLove that lurks in sorrow’s smart;Now, if I but think upon herSudden stillness fills my heart.
Spotless lily in the garden,Fair and high on slender stem,In the morning breeze thou wavestLike a dainty silver flame.How thy chalice opens upwardTo admit the sunlight’s gleam!Scarce unto the earth belonging,Part of Heaven dost thou seem.Ah, thou bearest greetings to meFrom a being pure as thou,Whom I called my spirit’s spirit,Once with many a loving vow;She who taught me to discoverLove that lurks in sorrow’s smart;Now, if I but think upon herSudden stillness fills my heart.
Spotless lily in the garden,Fair and high on slender stem,In the morning breeze thou wavestLike a dainty silver flame.
How thy chalice opens upwardTo admit the sunlight’s gleam!Scarce unto the earth belonging,Part of Heaven dost thou seem.
Ah, thou bearest greetings to meFrom a being pure as thou,Whom I called my spirit’s spirit,Once with many a loving vow;
She who taught me to discoverLove that lurks in sorrow’s smart;Now, if I but think upon herSudden stillness fills my heart.
There stands the ancient gabled house;The rooms therein how well I know!They’re still as once they were, when firstI loved there, long ago.But, like the moon, times change, and hearts,And strangers now the dwelling claim;Another passion fills my breast;Yet is the house the same.Today I went there to the feast;Some memory made my bosom stir,I heeded not the song and jest,I only thought ofher,—Of all that we had meant to be,Of all my vanisht youthful years,And of the love that filled her eyes,—Till mine o’erflowed with tears.And when I roused me from the thought,Alas, how changed did all things seem!As though that dream had been my life,And all my life a dream.
There stands the ancient gabled house;The rooms therein how well I know!They’re still as once they were, when firstI loved there, long ago.But, like the moon, times change, and hearts,And strangers now the dwelling claim;Another passion fills my breast;Yet is the house the same.Today I went there to the feast;Some memory made my bosom stir,I heeded not the song and jest,I only thought ofher,—Of all that we had meant to be,Of all my vanisht youthful years,And of the love that filled her eyes,—Till mine o’erflowed with tears.And when I roused me from the thought,Alas, how changed did all things seem!As though that dream had been my life,And all my life a dream.
There stands the ancient gabled house;The rooms therein how well I know!They’re still as once they were, when firstI loved there, long ago.
But, like the moon, times change, and hearts,And strangers now the dwelling claim;Another passion fills my breast;Yet is the house the same.
Today I went there to the feast;Some memory made my bosom stir,I heeded not the song and jest,I only thought ofher,—
Of all that we had meant to be,Of all my vanisht youthful years,And of the love that filled her eyes,—Till mine o’erflowed with tears.
And when I roused me from the thought,Alas, how changed did all things seem!As though that dream had been my life,And all my life a dream.
(“Ach, aus dieses Thales Gründen.”)
(“Ach, aus dieses Thales Gründen.”)
From the shadows of the valleyWith the chilly mist opprest,Might I only find the outletI should count myself as blest.There uprise the sunny mountainsGreen and young and fair to see,Had I wings to lift me upward,To the mountains I would flee.Melodies are sweetly chiming,I can catch the heavenly notes,And a balmy flower fragranceOn the light breeze downward floats.Golden fruits are shining, glowing,Through the leafage, darkly green,And the flowers that there are blowingWinter’s snows have never seen.Ah, how blissful must the life beIn that sunshine without night;Ah, how soft and how refreshingIs the air that crowns that height!Yet the stormy river stays meThat between us roars of death;And its ghastly waves are liftedTill my spirit shuddereth.There a bark all lonely tossesWithout steersman, on the tide;Leap into it, bold, untrembling,Sure some fate its sails will guide!Thou must trust, and thou must venture,For the gods will lend no hand;Nothing but a wonder lifts theeTo thy golden Wonderland.
From the shadows of the valleyWith the chilly mist opprest,Might I only find the outletI should count myself as blest.There uprise the sunny mountainsGreen and young and fair to see,Had I wings to lift me upward,To the mountains I would flee.Melodies are sweetly chiming,I can catch the heavenly notes,And a balmy flower fragranceOn the light breeze downward floats.Golden fruits are shining, glowing,Through the leafage, darkly green,And the flowers that there are blowingWinter’s snows have never seen.Ah, how blissful must the life beIn that sunshine without night;Ah, how soft and how refreshingIs the air that crowns that height!Yet the stormy river stays meThat between us roars of death;And its ghastly waves are liftedTill my spirit shuddereth.There a bark all lonely tossesWithout steersman, on the tide;Leap into it, bold, untrembling,Sure some fate its sails will guide!Thou must trust, and thou must venture,For the gods will lend no hand;Nothing but a wonder lifts theeTo thy golden Wonderland.
From the shadows of the valleyWith the chilly mist opprest,Might I only find the outletI should count myself as blest.There uprise the sunny mountainsGreen and young and fair to see,Had I wings to lift me upward,To the mountains I would flee.
Melodies are sweetly chiming,I can catch the heavenly notes,And a balmy flower fragranceOn the light breeze downward floats.Golden fruits are shining, glowing,Through the leafage, darkly green,And the flowers that there are blowingWinter’s snows have never seen.
Ah, how blissful must the life beIn that sunshine without night;Ah, how soft and how refreshingIs the air that crowns that height!Yet the stormy river stays meThat between us roars of death;And its ghastly waves are liftedTill my spirit shuddereth.
There a bark all lonely tossesWithout steersman, on the tide;Leap into it, bold, untrembling,Sure some fate its sails will guide!Thou must trust, and thou must venture,For the gods will lend no hand;Nothing but a wonder lifts theeTo thy golden Wonderland.