Variant! pg. 58

Variant!

When I dream alone at night

At that time, in [my] imagination

The specters of [my] young years stand

Happy and friendly

The happy murmur of young souls

Rejoices in my heart

As if the wondrous sound is heard

Of a favorite song

A spirited youth steps forth boldly

Strong with plenty of fire

Sparks pour from his eyes

[His] veins burn with fire

Where they merely appear

They soon awaken enchantment

All the girls willingly send forth

The sky-blue of longing eyes

An Old Man’s Logic (Continued) pg. 57

Why are you marrying off your son so early

Before he arrives at understanding?

“Hm,” said the old father to this

“My plan’s not going to change-

When he arrives at understanding

He won’t get married at all.”

Advice!

When a dowried young lady’s

Reciprocating love you read

Kneel down without shuffling around and beg

“O lady, unite with me”

Exploit love for yourself

Exploit as long as [she’s] favorable

And perhaps she won’t even

Give you her hand for a minute

[But] forge a marriage on the heat

As long as the weather is favorable

Let [her] quietly marry[1] herself off

But her dowry- that’s a shame!

---

[1] Literally “take herself [in marriage]”

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing And Toasts (Continued) pg. 56

Unconquered hope in evil times

Is a virtuous wife to her husband

6.

The stars shine little in life

Little the songs, the flowering roses

More the clouds, and sorrowful shadows

More the pain of a storm of tears

Well, for you, lady, I sincerely wish

To send a wreath of flowers as an offering

May in your life much flowering

Sow happiness under your feet

May your life be may time

Eternal spring, lasting paradise

An Old Man’s Logic

A certain father, a man of consequence

With a bald head and a grey chin

Wanted to marry off his son

But he was [too] young for marriage

Someone called to his attention

From amidst the crowd of his acquaintances

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing And Toasts (Continued) pg. 55

But when they already stand on foreign soil

And he has begun[1] to live among foreign people

When a gloomy mist obscures the future

The present torments, or bores

And the past only bears forth in tears

Then tears are relief in sorrow

The only [relief] that I can manage, the only [relief] that I feel

Is, in solitude, to think about you

Until the mainstay of the patient, the faithful

God at last takes pity

And unites the separated forever

If we loved each other forever

How sweet the tears could be then

The sole translation of feelings

O my love! When will we, when

Will I cry such tears?

Because what could be, in this eternal life,

Sweeter than to live with a faithful companion

In sorrow, consolation, calm in accident

Salvation in tribulation, relief in deficiency

---

[1] Or “I have begun”

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing And Toasts (Continued) pg. 54

Time will tell you my thoughts sincerely

And reveal the love secret until that moment

Give [me] at least [your] hand at that leave taking

It will confirm this, my declaration

I love Temira, because [she is] worthy of love

She lives virtuously, has a good-hearted soul

Perhaps her heart, which she today forbids me

Perhaps with faithful steadfastness I will turn it

Something says wait out the course of events

I was omened to suffer for such hope

5.

When people of heaven decree

To one going to a distant land

You must give up everything beloved

Give up perhaps forever

It’s bitter in the heart, and tears flow in

With a hot flame, one’s face burns

Will you remember the last happy hours

When we say goodbye to each other?

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing And Toasts (Continued) pg. 53

Happy is he who deserves, begs for or summons in secret

The touch of your refined face

3.

Wherever I turn, I fall upon your image

I see it in the flowers, wept to, it sings to me

When I talk to it[1] about my sorrow

It seems to me that it’s mocking my tears

Meager consolation, to no longer have the hope

That I purchased at so much effort

The sun burnt[2] me, the wind blows from a wintry quarter

Is it possible to live that which I once lived?

[My] cry is not dead, although wounded

I am well-wishing, as I was to you always

My unpleasant fate has not changed me

Have sweetness in the life that I lost

Temira! Why, when happiness is gone[3]

At the same time, the memory of it does not perish

4.

O, that virtuous hour, Temira

The hour in which you separate from me

---

[1] Literally “to which”

[2] Literally “heated”

[3] Literally “passes away”

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing And Toasts pg. 52

Verse Compositions, Well-Wishing and Toasts

1.

That you, handsome lady, I honor and esteem so much

Don’t marvel, on the contrary, women are worth that honor

And when you desire to have an explanation of these sentiments of mine

Desire to read these words of an affectionate poet

“The first smile moved my mouth towards a woman

My first tears a woman’s breath dried

With the first word of her speech she shaped my caress

To a woman I first stretched out my arms

And when in the fog of childhood I recognized [my] mother

Not knowing love- I loved a woman

2.

When, Maryanna, I sketch words in your book

It’s just that in them I express what I’m thinking and feeling

I saw that, desiring your kind life,

Nature gave you an abundance of its gifts

A living wit, quickness of spirit

Something lovable in every movement

Courtesy in deed, the grace of beauty

Capable of, masterful at, warming ice