European Elegies/Autumn (1)/The unendurable
9.THE UNENDURABLE
My broken spirit cannot bear
That, as of old, the sun is gay;
That, as when life was still your share,
The clock ticks on upon the stair
And day comes calmly after day;
That, as of old, the sun is gay;
That, as when life was still your share,
The clock ticks on upon the stair
And day comes calmly after day;
That, when the twilight shadows flit,
And fireside circles form anon,
The place where you, dear, used to sit
Is filled with others' smiles and wit,
And nothing seems to know you gone;
And fireside circles form anon,
The place where you, dear, used to sit
Is filled with others' smiles and wit,
And nothing seems to know you gone;
While far across the quiet night
The pallid, flickering moonbeams pass,
And with indifference infinite
Lay bare in wavering ghostly light
Your gravestone in the churchyard grass.
The pallid, flickering moonbeams pass,
And with indifference infinite
Lay bare in wavering ghostly light
Your gravestone in the churchyard grass.
From the German of Theodor Storm.