You stepped up to the hearth

by Stefan George

You stepped up to the hearth
Where any blaze had died ·
Light fell solely on the earth
Pale as corpse the moon it dyed.

You dipped in that burnt ash
Your pale-white fingers in
To search to feel to catch –
Will it be light again!

Look what on solace’s path
The moon speaks of your fate:
Step from the hearth ·
It is already late.

(Translated by Edward Viesel)

(From: Das Jahr der Seele [The Year of the Soul] (1897) – Traurige Tänze [Mournful Dances])