CLOUD, whither dost thou haste away
So swiftly through the air?
Dost thou to some far-distant land
An urgent message bear?
With gloomy aspect, dark and sad,
Thou movest on through space ;
Dost thou hide vengeance, or has grief
O’ershadowed thy bright face ?
Did a wind come and exile thee
Far from thy heavenly home,
Like me, in homesickness and tears
Across the world to roam ?
Like me, who wander now, my griefs
Sole comrades, left to me,
While, longing for my fatherland,
I pine on land and sea ?
Cloud, when thy heart is full of tears
Thou hast relief in rain;
When indignation brims thy breast,
Fierce lightnings tell thy pain.
Though my heart too is full, my brow
With painful thoughts oppressed,
To whom can I pour forth the griefs
That fill an exile’s breast?
O cloud, thou hast no native land!
Far happier thou than I;
To north, to south thou floatest free,
At home in all the sky.
But I, at every step, shed tears,
In sadness and in gloom ;
Each step away from fatherland
Is nearer to my tomb !