Every night, when the sun just commences to set,
I bid it farewell, while I yearn to be dead,
But again, as the cold, bitter day dawns anew,
Life will take hold of me and the pain will ensue!
I part with the good and the evil, in part,
Filled with hope and with dread that I may soon depart,
But the morning returns, and I stand where I stood,
And I still curse the evil and pine for the good.
Goodness, you’re wise, full of power and force,
For how many of us have you chosen this course,
So a mortal with daydreams, as the sun comes awake,
Has to long for your presence all day, with no break?..
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Dolor Ante Lucem — Anguish preceding dawn (Lat.)
Каждый вечер, лишь только погаснет заря,
Я прощаюсь, желанием смерти горя,
И опять, на рассвете холодного дня,
Жизнь охватит меня и измучит меня!
Я прощаюсь и с добрым, прощаюсь и с злым,
И надежда и ужас разлуки с земным,
А наутро встречаюсь с землею опять,
Чтобы зло проклинать, о добре тосковать!..
Боже, боже, исполненный власти и сил,
Неужели же всем ты так жить положил,
Чтобы смертный, исполненный утренних грез,
О тебе тоскованье без отдыха нес?..
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Dolor ante lucem — Предрассветная тоска (лат.).
«At my cheerless table / I a-musing sit: / How is one to be / In the world alone? / I, a stalwart youth, / Have no wife, no mate; / I, a stalwart youth, / Want a loving friend. / Want a harrow, share; / Want a kindly hearth; / Want a barn well-stocked, / And a good plo...»
«Pull, my gray one, pull now! / Turning o’er the black clods, / Mother-earth will burnish / White the iron ploughshare. / / Blushing dawn, the fair one, / Lo! on the bright horizon; / From the waking woodland / Comes the sun in glory. / / Joyous rolls the ploughland! / ...»
«When from thy shame, degrading, dark, I drew / Thy fallen spirit out with words of flame; / And thou, with wringing hands, in anguish deep, / Didst curse the sin that compassed thee about; / When thou didst lash thy conscience, late and dull, / With story of thy past, confessing all ...»
«“Well, wife, how are you? How are you, my little ones? / Ah, for a good drink of ale! Such a frost!” — / “Lately the last drop you drained with the constable, / Hast thou forgotten it?” — “Well, nothing lost! / / I shall, poor sinner, get warm soon without it. / But first ...»