SONGS OF RUSSIA
It seemed to me you suffered for our sake,
And longed to tell us something, filled with love.
The night was fleeting; through the whitening pane
The day appeared; star after star died slow;
The lamp’s red, flickering light was melting now
Into the golden dawn’s triumphant glow.
To the piano silently you stepped,
And touched the keys that dumbly glimmered there;
And an impassioned strain of love and grief
Beneath your hands gushed forth upon the air.
What was it in your song like a reproach,
That, full of sadness, o’er our circle came,
And hotly stirred the heart within my breast,
And filled it with pure love and burning shame?
I do not know. Was it the sleepless night?
Was it my sick nerves playing? Tears would rise.
My bosom heaved with them; a moment more,
And they burst forth with passion from mine eyes.
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