"WITH MY FANCY I GRASPED"[1]
With my fancy I grasped at the vague shadows straying,
At the vague shadows straying where the daylight had
fled;
I ascended a tower, and the stairway was swaying,
And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread.
And the higher I climbed, ever clearer were rounded,
Ever clearer were rounded dreaming hilltops aglow;
And from Heaven to Earth twilight voices resounded,
Twilight voices resounded from above and below.
And the higher I rose, strange horizons defining,
Strange horizons defining, did the summits appear;
And my eyes as I looked were caressed by their shining,
Were caressed by their shining, their farewell, sad and
clear.
Now the night had appeared; Earth in darkness lay
dreaming,
Earth in darkness lay dreaming, like a slumbering star,
While the smoldering sun, his dim embers still gleaming,
His dim embers still gleaming, shone for me from afar.
I had learned to ensnare the vague shadows far straying,
The vague shadows far straying, where the daylight had
fled;
Ever higher I rose, and the stairway was swaying,
And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread.
- ↑ Tr. by Avrahm Yarmolinsky and Cecil Cowdrey.
