| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Last Sonnet | | By Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838) |
| | Anonymous Translation
THEY say the year is in its summer glory: | |
| But thou, O Sun, appearest chill and pale, | |
| The vigour of thy youth begins to fail,— | |
| Say, art thou, too, becoming old and hoary? | |
| Old Age, forsooth!—what profits our complaining? | 5 |
| Although a bitter guest and comfortless, | |
| One learns to smile beneath its stern caress, | |
| The fated burden manfully sustaining: | |
| ’Tis only for a span, a summer’s day. | |
| Deep in the fitful twilight have I striven, | 10 |
| Must now the even-feast of rest be holding: | |
| One curtain falls,—and, lo! another play! | |
| “His will be done whose mercy much has given?” | |
| I’ll pray,—my grateful hands to heaven folding. | | | | |
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