Two Twilights

<SPAN name="chap047"></SPAN> <h3> IM SCHWARZWALD </h3> <p class="poem"> The winter sunset, red upon the snow,<br/> Lights up the narrow way that I should go;<br/> Winding o'er bare white hilltops, whereon lie<br/> Dark churches and the holy evening sky.<br/> That path would lead me deep into the west,<br/> Even to the feet of her I love the best.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> But this scarce broken track in which I stand<br/> Runs east, up through the tan-wood's midnight land;<br/> Where now the newly risen moon doth throw<br/> The shadows of long stems across the snow.<br/> This path would take me to the Jäger's Tree<br/> Where stands the Swabian girl and waits for me.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> Her eyes are blacker than the woods at night<br/> And witching as the moon's uncertain light;<br/> And there are tones in that low voice of hers<br/> Caught from the wind among the Schwarzwald firs,<br/> And from the Gutach's echoing waters, when<br/> Still evening listens in the Forsthaus glen.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> I must&mdash;I must! Thou wilt forgive me, sweet;<br/> My heart flies west but eastward move my feet;<br/> The mad moon brightens as the sunset dies,<br/> And yonder hexie draws me with her eyes.<br/> <i>Ruck, ruck an meine grüne Seit!</i> she sings<br/> And with her arms the frozen trunk enrings,<br/></p> <p class="poem"> And lays upon its bark her little face.<br/> How canst thou be so dead in her embrace&mdash;<br/> So cold against her kisses, happy tree?<br/> Thou hast no love beyond the western sea.<br/> Methinks that at the lightest touch of her<br/> Thy wooden trunk should tremble, thy boughs stir:<br/></p> <p class="poem"> But at the pressure of her tender form<br/> Thy inmost pith should feel her and grow warm:<br/> The torpid sap should race along the vein;<br/> The resinous buds should swell, and once again<br/> Fresh needles shoot, as though the breeze of spring<br/> Already through the woods came whispering.<br/></p> <br/><br/><br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />