| |
| COLD in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee, | |
| Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave! | |
| Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee, | |
| Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave? | |
| |
| Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover | 5 |
| Over the mountains, on that northern shore, | |
| Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover | |
| Thy noble heart for ever, ever more? | |
| |
| Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers, | |
| From those brown hills, have melted into spring: | 10 |
| Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers | |
| After such years of change and suffering! | |
| |
| Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee, | |
| While the world’s tide is bearing me along; | |
| Other desires and other hopes beset me, | 15 |
| Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong! | |
| |
| No later light has lightened up my heaven, | |
| No second moon has ever shone for me; | |
| All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given, | |
| All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee. | 20 |
| |
| But, when the days of golden dreams had perished, | |
| And ev’n Despair was powerless to destroy; | |
| Then did I learn how existence could be cherished, | |
| Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy. | |
| |
| Then did I check the tears of useless passion— | 25 |
| Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; | |
| Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten | |
| Down to that tomb already more than mine. | |
| |
| And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, | |
| Dare not indulge in memory’s rapturous pain; | 30 |
| Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, | |
| How could I seek the empty world again? | |
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