European Elegies/Winter/The hatefulness of death
37.THE HATEFULNESS OF DEATH
Go, lovely woman, haste and prove
The features of the man you love,
Watch earnestly his ardent air,
His quiet eyes and shining hair,
Till you can hold the happy grace
With which he smiles down in your face.
For sudden silence stills the voice
Forever, that declares its joys
In proudly praising you to-day.
Alas, a fathom deep in clay
That tongue is rotting in his mouth
Wherewith he sang your radiant youth
In his light-hearted gaiety:
No longer may it form with glee
The words that made your bosom throb.
Recall, too, with a choking sob
The bearded chin and lips you won;
For now the vile earth lies upon
The tender arms that held you fast
And guarded you from every blast
In happy days, forever past.
The features of the man you love,
Watch earnestly his ardent air,
His quiet eyes and shining hair,
Till you can hold the happy grace
With which he smiles down in your face.
For sudden silence stills the voice
Forever, that declares its joys
In proudly praising you to-day.
Alas, a fathom deep in clay
That tongue is rotting in his mouth
Wherewith he sang your radiant youth
In his light-hearted gaiety:
No longer may it form with glee
The words that made your bosom throb.
Recall, too, with a choking sob
The bearded chin and lips you won;
For now the vile earth lies upon
The tender arms that held you fast
And guarded you from every blast
In happy days, forever past.
From the Middle High German of Heinrich von Melk.