NIGHT, with thy passionless stars!
Awake and alone with my grief
I hide in thy coolness, thy calm,
And my heart finds relief.

Cold is your vigil, O stars!
Ye are mirrored in dew and in tears:
The glad watch ye not, ye pass on
Seeing the grief of the years.

Thou too, Orion, must sink!
Latest thou heardst our farewell;
Again thou bear'st from me my love,
And no word canst thou tell.

Ah, Night, how swift art thou sped!
For others day brings a new birth:
Oh, take me! for fain would I pass
With the stars to the bosom of earth.

Not for me is glory of dawn,
The undoing of deeds that are done;
The light I have lost is still lost
Though I walk in the sun.