Eduard Mörike: “SECLUSION”
Excerpt, “English Echoes of German Song.” Tr. by R. E. Wallis, J. D. Morell, and F. D’anvers. Edited by N. D’anvers. With Twelve Engravings on Steel.
LONDON: Marcus Ward & Co. , 67 & 68 Chandon Street, Strand and Royal Ulster Works, Belfast. 1877
SECLUSION
O World! I pray thee let me be!
Cease with gifts of love alluring;
Leave this heart alone, enduring
Its delight—its misery!
Why I mourn I cannot say:
’Tis a strange, unspoken sorrow;–
Yet thro’ tears, o every morrow,
I behold the light of day.
Oft myself I hardly know;
When thro’ pain, a lightning pleasure
Flashes in o’erpowering measure
O’er my heart, a fiery glow.
O world! I pray thee let me be!
Cease with gifts of love alluring;
Leave this heart alone, enduring
Its delight—its misery!
Eduard Mörike
