BEFORE SUNRISE
"Oh, sky above me! Thou pure! Thou deep! Thou abyss of light! Gazing at thee, I quiver with god-like desires.
To cast myself up unto thy height—that is my profundity! To hide myself in thy purity—that is mine innocence!
A God is veiled by his beauty: thus thy stars are hidden by thee. Thou speakest not: thus thou showest forth thy wisdom unto me.
Silent over a roaring sea thou hast risen to-day unto me; thy love and thy shame utter a revelation unto my roaring soul.
That thou camest unto me, beautiful, veiled in thy beauty; that silent thou speakest unto me, manifest in thy wisdom—
Oh, how should I not guess all that is full of shame in thy soul! Before sunrise thou camest unto me, the loneliest one.
We are friends from the beginning. Sorrow and horror and soil we share; even the sun we share.
We do not speak unto each other because we know too many things. We stare silently at each other; smiling we declare our knowledge unto one another.
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