Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916.
By The Early GravesFriedrich Gottlob Klopstock (1724–1803)
B
Quiet, beautiful friend of night!
Flee’st thou? Hasten not, stay, oh spirit-friend!
Lo, now she stays, only clouds wandered away.
The waking of May is alone
Fairer still than the summer night,
When the dew, clear as light, from her tresses drips,
When she, ascending the hill, ruddily glows.
Ye nobler ones! Gloomily grows
On your tombstones the sober moss!
Happy I was, alas, when I still with you
Looked upon roseate dawns, shimmering nights!