Song of the Spirits over the Waters (1779)

 

The soul of man,

It is like water:

It comes from heaven,

It mounts to heaven,

And earthward again

Descends

Eternally changing.

 

If the pure jet

Streams from the high

Vertical rockface,

A powdering spray,

A wave of cloud

Splashes the smooth rock

And gathered lightly

Like a veil it rolls

Murmuring onward

To depths yonder.

 

If cliffs loom up

To stem its fall,

It foams petulant

Step by step

To the abyss.

 

Along a level bed

Through the glen it slips,

In the lake unruffled

All the clustering stars

Turn their gaze.

 

Wind woos

The wave like a lover,

Wind churns from the ground up

Foaming billows.

 

Soul of man,

How like the water you are!

Fate of man,

How like the wind.

 

 

Translated by Christopher Middleton