Their “prayers of departure” The wild birds are singing, They fly to the wide stormy main. Oh tell me, ye loved ones, Whereto are ye winging? Oh answer: when come ye again? Oh hark to the wailing For joys that have vanished! The answer is heavy with pain: Alas! We know only That hence we are banished— But God knows of coming again! II The Tkiyes*-man has blown his horn, And swift the days’ declining; The leaves drop off, in fields forlorn Are tender grasses pining. The earth will soon be cold and bare, Her robe of glory falling; Already to the mourner’s prayer The last wild bird is calling. He sings so sweetly and so sad A song of friends who parted, That even if it find you glad, It leaves you broken hearted. The copses shudder in the breeze, Some dream-known terror fearing. Awake! O great and little trees! The Judgment-day is nearing! O men! O trees in copses cold! Beware the rising weather! Or late or soon, both young and old Shall strew the ground together... . [*Tkiye: first blast of the Ram’s horn.] Depression All the striving, all the failing, To the silent Nothing sailing. Swiftly, swiftly passing by! For the land of shadows leaving, Where a wistful hand is weaving Thy still woof, Eternity! Gloomy thoughts in me awaken, And with fear my breast is shaken, Thinking: O thou black abyss; All the toil and thrift of life, All the struggle and the strife, Shall it come at last to this? With the grave shall be requited Good and evil, and united Ne’er to separate again? What the light hath parted purely, Shall the darkness join more surely?— Was the vict’ry won in vain? O mute and infinite extension, O time beyond our comprehension, Shall thought and deed ungarnered fall? Ev’rything dost take and slay, Ev’rything dost bear away, Silent Nothing, silent All!... The Canary The free canary warbles In leafy forest dell: Who feels what rapture thrills her, And who her joy can tell? The sweet canary warbles Where wealth and splendor dwell: Who knows what sorrow moves her, And who her pain can tell?
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