Page:The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore - A Study in English and German Romanticism - Emerson (1915).djvu/105

"O mother, what is gone, is gone,
What's lost, for ever lorn:
Death, death alone can comfort me;
O had I ne'er been born!

"O break, my heart, O break at once!
Drink my life-blood, Despair.
No joy remains on earth for me,
For me in heaven no share."

"O enter not in judgment, Lord!"
The pious mother prays;
"Impute not guilt to thy frail child!
She knows not what she says.

"O say thy pater noster, child!
O turn to God and grace!
His will that turn'd thy bliss to bale
Can change thy bale to bliss."

"O mother, mother! what is bliss?
O mother, what is bale?
My William's love was heaven on earth,
Without it earth is hell.

"Why should I pray to ruthless Heav'n,
Since my lov'd William's slain?
I only pray'd for William's sake,
And all my pray'rs were vain."

"O take the sacrament, my child,
And check these tears that flow;
By resignation's humble pray'r,
O hallow'd be thy woe;"

"No sacrament can quench this fire,
Or slake this scorching pain:
No sacrament can bid the dead
Arise and live again.

"O break, my heart, O break at once!
Be thou my god, despair!
Heav'ns heaviest blow has fall'n on me,
And vain each fruitless pray'r."

"O enter not in judgment, Lord,
With thy frail child of clay;
She knows not what her tongue has spoke;
Impute it not, I pray!