Friedrich Holderlin

Isn't my heart holy, more full of life's beauty, since I fell in love
Why did you like me more when I was prouder and wilder, more full of words, yet emptier
Well, the crowd likes whatever sells in the marketplace; and no one but a slave...

The open day is bright with pictures for everyone, when green fields appear on the distant plain, before the light of evening yields to twilight, and reflections of light alleviate the noise of the day
The inner being of the world often appea...

When I was a boy a god would often rescue me from the shouting and violence of humans
Then, safe and well,
I would play with the meadow flowers, and heaven's breezes would play with me
And as you delight the heart of plants, stretch...

Once gods walked among humans,
The splendid Muses and youthful
Inspired and healed us, just like you
And you are to me as if one of the Holy Ones Had sent me forth into life, and the image Of my beloved goes with me,

My heart awakened to life in your valleys, Your waves played around me
And all of the fair hills that know you, Wayfarer, are known to me as well
On those peaks the winds from the sky Relieved me from pains of bondage, And silver-blue wa...

Holy spirits, you walk up there in the light, on soft earth
Shining god-like breezes touch upon you gently, as a woman's fingers play music on holy strings
Like sleeping infants the gods breathe without any plan; the spirit flourishes co...

The lines of life are various,
Like roads, and the borders of mountains
What we are here, a god can complete there,
With harmonies, undying reward, and peace

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It is still bright night in the Alps, and a cloud, Authoring joyfulness, covers the yawning valley
Playful mountain breezes rush and toss about, and a ray Of light shines abruptly through the firs and disappears
Chaos, quivering w...

The margins of the forest are beautiful, as if painted onto the green slopes
I walk around, and sweet peace rewards me for the thornsin my heart, when the mind has grown dark, for right from the startart and thinking have cost it pain
Th...

The god Is near, and hard to grasp
But where there is danger,
A rescuing element grows as well
Eagles live in the darkness,

The northeast blows, my favorite among winds, since it promises fiery spirit and a good voyage to mariners
But go now, and greet the lovely Garonne, and the gardens of Bordeaux, where the path runs beside the steep bank, and the brook runs in...

Where are you
Drunk, my mind becomes     Twilight after all your ecstasy
For I just saw           How the enrapturing young god,               Tired from his journey,
Bathed his youthful hair in the golden clouds

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Round about the city rests
The illuminated streets grow   Quiet,  and coaches rush along, adorned with torches
Men go home to rest, filled with the day's pleasures;   Busy minds weigh up profit and loss contentedly At home

You too wanted better things, but love forces all of us down
Sorrow bends us more forcefully, but the arc doesn't return to its point of origin without a reason
Upwards or downwards
In holy Night, where mute Nature plans the coming ...

Grant me just one summer, powerful ones, And just one autumn for ripe songs, That my heart, filled with that sweet Music, may more willingly die within me
The soul, denied its divine heritage in life, Won't find rest down in Hades either

The fruits are ripe, dipped in fire,
Cooked and sampled on earth
And there's a law,
That things crawl off in the manner of snakes,