You stepped up to the hearth
by Stefan George
You stepped up to the hearth
Where any blaze had died ·
Mere light fell on the earth
Corpse-pale the moon it dyed.
You dipped in that burnt ash
Your wan-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:
Away step from that hearth ·
It is already late.
(Translated by Edward Viesel)
(From: Das Jahr der Seele [The Year of the Soul] (1897) – Traurige Tänze [Mournful Dances])
Note: The German original uses the second person plural throughout.