| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXVI. Melancholy
‘O Dearest, canst thou tell me why’ | | By Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) |
| | Translated by Richard Garnett
O DEAREST, canst thou tell me why | |
| The rose should be so pale? | |
| And why the azure violet | |
| Should wither in the vale? | |
| |
| And why the lark should in the cloud | 5 |
| So sorrowfully sing? | |
| And why from loveliest balsam-buds | |
| A scent of death should spring? | |
| |
| And why the sun upon the mead | |
| So chillingly should frown? | 10 |
| And why the earth should, like a grave, | |
| Be mouldering and brown? | |
| |
| And why it is that I myself | |
| So languishing should be? | |
| And why it is, my heart of hearts, | 15 |
| That thou forsakest me? | | | | |
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