My steed goes slowly through the night;
The moon is half in shadow,
With clouds that steal across her light
Like lambs across a meadow.
A sudden stillness fills my heart,
With grief so lately movèd,
For in thy thoughts I have a part,
Tonight, my best belovèd.
In every whisper of the wind
Thy greeting I discover;
O may’st thou in the breezes find
The kisses of thy lover.
II.
(“Schöne Lilie.”)
Spotless lily in the garden,
Fair and high on slender stem,
In the morning breeze thou wavest
Like a dainty silver flame.
How thy chalice opens upward
To admit the sunlight’s gleam!
Scarce unto the earth belonging,
Part of Heaven dost thou seem.