Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Miscellaneous | | The Watchman | | Franz von Dingelstedt (1814–1881) |
| | Anonymous translation
THE LAST faint twinkle now goes out | |
| Up in the poet’s attic; | |
| And the roysterers, in merry rout, | |
| Speed home with steps erratic. | |
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| Soft from the house-roofs showers the snow, | 5 |
| The vane creaks on the steeple, | |
| The lanterns wag and glimmer low | |
| In the storm by the hurrying people. | |
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| The houses all stand black and still, | |
| The churches and taverns deserted, | 10 |
| And a body may now wend at his will, | |
| With his own fancies diverted. | |
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| Not a squinting eye now looks this way, | |
| Not a slanderous mouth is dissembling, | |
| And a heart that has slept the livelong day | 15 |
| May now love and hope with trembling. | |
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| Dear Night! thou foe to each base end, | |
| While the good still a blessing prove thee, | |
| They say that thou art no man’s friend,— | |
| Sweet Night! how I therefore love thee! | 20 | | | |
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