1. Would that my poetry knew, do we pass
Through haze to shores of loss?

2. And wade time on the wing of endless night
That saddens souls and gives them cheer?

3. And life’s banks strike the eye,
Some pass after others

4. Without our being able to return to what
Is past, or to cast anchor on dry land.

5. Speak, O lake, what is with me
That I see no “Olivia” on your banks?

6. The year is nearly over, and this
Is our meeting time on your beach,

7. O rock of covenant! Here I have
Returned, so what news, O haven, of your guests?

8. I’ve come back alone, grazing the banks with an eye
That has shed its tears through your long nights,

9. Were you not yesterday roaring
As you always are, shaking the heart of stillness,

10. With banks whose waves collapse
Against these numb rocks?

11. The ailing breeze pushes, weakened,
The spume of the wave to the shore and gloom,

12. Casting its murmur on its feet
To soften the touch, love-smitten with moaning.

13. Can you recall the night we were
Above your waves between your banks?

14. When a boat sailed by us swaying
Beneath the wing of night and veil of decency?!

15. In stillness, above the wave hearing only
The songs of the oars mixed

16. With your wanton wave’s melodies
And the cooing of a lover.

17. When suddenly a voice unfamiliar
To the shore rang out, unaccustomed to human hearing,

18. And the beach was filled with confusion beyond which
No sound of talk is heard loud or clear,

19. And as the night grew dark, the light
Faded, and the squalls fell quiet

20. To hear the story of that voice, whispers
Cast by a caster again and again.

21. O time that passes like a bird, stop,
Slow your flight!

22. The hours race past us, thirsty, stop
Your run, stay with us!

23. Let us fool in the most beautiful days
And find, beyond fear, your safety,

24. And if we’ve tasted the delight of life
And it has passed, turn your course!

25. But misery has flooded the earth
And the world overflows with the wretched,

26. All pleading to you – make haste! Make haste!
To the pleading!

27. Devour the woes of their days and pass
Crushing misery to dust,

28. Have mercy! Remember the sad souls
And forget not, O fate, the soft of heart!

29. In vain I seek permanence for a time
That slips from my hand and flees today,

30. And moments of bliss I see not,
Soon to pass and disappear,

31. And I call “O night of union, stay!
For remoteness after intimacy is still sweet.”

32. Alas for youth and the nights that
Leave their morn preserved no more.

33. So let us love in the morn and revive love,
And be for each other in life,

34. And hasten to follow hours
For soon the stars will foretell the end.

35. We’re in the expanse of a sea
Where we cannot cast anchor on solid ground,

36. No harbor in sight, but we go on
Into its abyss, and it goes on!

37. Is this you, O fleeting time,
That kills the intoxication of moments

38. When happiness pours for us waves
Of love abundant in ardors?

39. Is this you passing quickly
The nights of purity from us?

40. Is this how the sweetness of blessings
Passes like the wretchedness of life?

41. Say: who of you has diverted them
Into the endless days, where you’ve hid them?

42. Come, tell me, can’t we one day
See them? Do you not show their course?

43. Have they really all gone, without
Leaving even a trace, have they gone?

44. Or is it time that fell for their
Youthful charms now erased them?

45. O you, this time and utter
Nothingness, both sunk in stillness and silence,

46. O deepest currents: what have you done
With our youth? What have you done with them?

47. Won't you give back the intoxications
Of love you snatched from us?

48. Won’t you unleash them from your bosom?
Won’t you restore them after death?

49. You, O lake, what does the wave
Conceal in you, and the cliffs?

50. Let there be in your coves fleeting visions
Laughing on the slopes of your hills,

51. In the pine groves soft whispers
Cloaking in fronds around your vales,

52. In the rock ledges, gazelles peering
White over your steeps,

53. And let there be on the haze a roaring
Like thunder on your shore,

54. In the play of winds, howl in the ravines
Like my lost heart’s howls,

55. In the brook’s echoes, melodious sighs
Its coldness packed with fervor,

56. In your rustling silence that splits
The heart spraying its paradise lost?!

57. And let there be in the breeze that blew brisk
Rippling the water toward you,

58. In the bright stars’ gentle brows that shed
Silver lights in your waters melting,

59. And let there be in the scattered sounds the ear hears
And what the eye and heart behold,

60. A voice from the sounds chanting:
“They loved and were true in their love.”