Translation:The many fallen ones into the deepest ...
* * *
The many fallen ones into the deepest
Insatiable abyss!
One of these days I’ll also vanish, guiltless,
From earthly living bliss
And all things then shall stall – the song and struggle
That shone from me and tore
The greenest eyes, the tender voice shall crumble;
The golden hair I wore
But life will carry on as nothing happened
(Its daily cares and needs)
Oblivious of me who under heaven
A life once lived and breathed!
So playful that I was in childish whimsy
And none too long was cross;
I that so loved of even hearth when, flimsy,
The wood would turn to floss
The cello and the horseback ride in forest
The tolling bell loved I …
Alive and real, with all my soul put foremost –
Good earth, why should I die!
To you I speak now, strange or friendly people
– I never tempered was –
And I demand of you some faith in keeping
But love of you I ask
Both day and night, in writing or in speaking:
Do love my gritty truth;
Do love me for my sadness often creeping;
For twenty years of youth
For that I never had a qualm, forgiving
Offences or ill use;
For all my boundless tenderness in living
And haughtiness in looks
For action swift and fell, for dashing valour
For truth, for play … oh my!
And listen! One more thing: do love me ever
For that I’ll have to die