The Farewell

[FliegendeWolf 0]

I was just thinking about this this morning, and it seems relevant, so I thought I'd post the text to the song. Some background: the text below is an English translation of a German paraphrase of Chinese poetry. The piece, from Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde is absolutely stunning!

Der Abschied (The Farewell)

The sun departs behind the mountains.
Into all the valleys the evening descends
With its shadows, which are full of coolness.
Oh see! Like a silver bark
The moon floats upward on the blue lake of heaven.
I feel a soft wind blowing
Behind the dark spruces.
The brook sings, full of pleasant sound, through the dark.
The flowers pale in the twilight,
The earth breathes full of quiet and sleep.
All longing now wants to dream,
Weary men go homeward,
To learn again in sleep
Forgotten happiness and youth.
The birds perch quietly in their branches,
The world falls asleep!

A cool breeze blows in the shade of my spruces.
I stand here and wait for my friend;
I await him for a final farewell.
I long, O friend, to enjoy
The beauty of this evening at your side.
Where are you? You leave me so long alone!
I walk up and down with my lute
On paths that swell with soft grass.
O beauty! O world drunk with eternal life and love!

He alighted from his horse and handed him the drink of farewell.
He asked him where he was bound and why it had to be.
He spoke, his voice was veiled:

My friend, fortune was not kind to me in this world.
Where do I go? I walk, I wander into the mountains.
I seek peace for my lonely heart.
I go to my homeland, my abode!
I will never roam in distant lands.
My heart is still and awaits its hour.

A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All