Grew vague behind me—
And I knew the country no longer.”
After the dark and obscure words of the introduction, wherein the poet expresses the prophecy of what is to come, the sun journey begins (“night journey in the sea”) towards the east, towards the ascent, towards the mystery of eternity and rebirth, of which Nietzsche also dreams, and which he expressed in significant words:
“Oh, how could I not be ardent for eternity, and for the nuptial ring of rings—the ring of the return! Never yet have I found the woman from whom I wish children, unless she would be this woman whom I love; for I love thee, O eternity.”
Hölderlin expresses this same longing in a beautiful symbol, the individual traits of which are already familiar to us:
“... But soon in a fresh radiance
Mysteriously
Blossoming in golden smoke,
With the rapidly growing steps of the sun,
Making a thousand summits fragrant,