That we, as twilight dims the air,
Assemble when the day is done,
And that the place where stood your chair
Already many others share,
And that you seem thus missed by none;
When meanwhile from the gate below
The narrow strips of moonlight spare
Into your vault down deeply go
And with a ghostly pallid glow
Are stealing o'er your coffin there.
[THE CITY][2]
The shore is gray, the sea is gray,
And there the city stands;
The mists upon the houses weigh
And through the calm, the ocean gray
Roars dully on the strands.
There are no rustling woods, there fly
No birds at all in May,
The wild goose with its callous cry
Alone on autumn nights soars by,
The wind-blown grasses sway.
And yet my whole heart clings to thee,
Gray city by the sea;
And e'er the spell of youth for me
Doth smiling rest on thee, on thee
Gray city by the sea.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Translator: Margarete Münsterberg.