With which to pass across and to return again.”
The first is a gloomy picture of the mountains and of time—although caused by the sun wandering over the mountains, the following picture a nearness, and at the same time separation, of the lovers, and seems to hint at life in the underworld,[[796]] where he is united with all that once was dear to him, and yet cannot enjoy the happiness of reunion, because it is all shadows and unreal and devoid of life. Here the one who descends drinks the waters of innocence, the waters of childhood, the drink of rejuvenation,[[797]] so wings may grow, and, winged, he may soar up again into life, like the winged sun, which arises like a swan from the water (“Wings, to pass across and to return again”):
“... So I spoke, and lo, a genie
Carried me off, swifter than I had imagined,
And farther than ever I had thought
From my own house!
It grew dark
As I went in the twilight.
The shadowy wood,
And the yearning brooks of my home-land