Welcome and Farewell (1771; 1789)

 

My heart beat fast, a horse! away!

Quicker than thought I am astride,

Earth now lulled by end of day,

Night hovering on the mountainside.

A robe of mist around him flung,

The oak a towering giant stood,

A hundred eyes of jet had sprung

From darkness in the bushy wood.

 

Atop a hill of cloud the moon

Shed piteous glimmers through the mist,

Softly the wind took flight, and soon

With horrible wings around me hissed.

Night made a thousand ghouls respire,

Of what I felt, a thousandth part­

My mind, what a consuming fire!

What a glow was in my heart!

 

You I saw, your look replied,

Your sweet felicity, my own,

My heart was with you, at your side,

I breathed for you, for you alone.

A blush was there, as if your face

A rosy hue of Spring had caught,

For me-ye gods!-this tenderness!

I hoped, and I deserved it not.

 

Yet soon the morning sun was there,

My heart, ah, shrank as leave I took:

How rapturous your kisses were,

What anguish then was in your look!

I left, you stood with downcast eyes,

In tears you saw me riding off:

Yet, to be loved, what happiness!

What happiness, ye gods, to love!

 

 

Translated by Christopher Middleton