| Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916. | | | | From “Woman’s Love and Life” I & II | | By Adalbert von Chamisso (1781–1803) |
| | I AH, since I have seen him, | |
| I believe I’m blind. | |
| Where I glance, forever | |
| Him alone I find. | |
| Evermore his image | 5 |
| In my waking dreams, | |
| Through the deepest darkness | |
| Bright and joyous gleams. | |
| |
| Colourless and dreary | |
| All is on my way! | 10 |
| And I feel so weary | |
| When my sisters play. | |
| I would fain be weeping, | |
| In my room confined; | |
| Ah, since I have seen him, | 15 |
| I believe I’m blind. | |
| |
II I cannot grasp or believe it, | |
| A dream has bewitched me quite. | |
| Why was it that me of all maidens | |
| He raised to this happiest height? | 20 |
| |
| It seemed as if he had spoken: | |
| I am thine eternally— | |
| It seemed—I still must be dreaming! | |
| It cannot, cannot be. | |
| |
| Oh, let me die thus dreaming, | 25 |
| And resting upon his breast, | |
| My death in ecstasy drinking, | |
| In tears of unending rest! | | | | |
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