Poems (Eminescu)/Thou goest...

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Poems (1938)
by Mihai Eminescu, translated by Petre Grimm
Thou goest…
Mihai Eminescu4357128Poems — Thou goest…1938Petre Grimm


THOU GOEST…

Thou goest and through years of suff’ring
For thee will long my dreary eyes,
Of all thy being’s charms enamour’d,
For thy sweet smile my spirit sighs.

My love’s not mild like tales of fairies,
My love so painful tears my breast,
And O thy soul is but a demon
In beauteous form of marble dressed!

Thy face has all the charms of pallor,
And moist and sparkling is thine eye,
With coaxing looks thou art so thrilling,
So full of wiles, so roguish, sly.

And when thou touchest me I quiver,
And when I hear thy steps I start,
Thy trembling lashes’ charm for ever
Enthralls my life, my throbbing heart.

Thou goest and I shall no longer
With deep regret for past days mourn,
No more a victim, will no longer
My heart with ruthless pain be torn.

And in my ear thy burning whisper
My ravished mind no longer woos,
Thy hand no longer smooths my forehead,
To make me all my wits to lose.

O in my thought with names most shameful
Thy conduct I could then reprove,
I cursed thee with the wildest hatred,
I cursed thee, O it was but love!

Now even this is left no longer
And none have I to curse to-day,
And as to-day will be to-morrow,
So all my years will pass away.

An autumn which doth sadly linger
Above a dreary fountain dry,
And o’er it withered leaves are falling—
They are my dreams that now must die.

And life to me seems but a madness,
So spent before e’en it was born,
In an eternity of darkness
One moment’s bliss and thence forlorn.

O thence for ever from me flying
My luck I never, never met,
O give me back one moment’s treasure
With all its years of deep regret!