Wondrously cool woodland night
Brahms, Johannes
Wondrously cool woodland night,
whom I greet a thousand times:
after the uproarious tumult of the world,
o how sweet is your rustling!
Dreamily I nestle my weary limbs
in your tender moss,
and it seems to me as if once more
I were free from all my insane anguish.
Distant fluting song, emerge and
stir a wide yearning,
with thoughts of the beloved,
ah! beguile the resented distance!
Let the woodland night lull me,
still every pain,
and a blissful satisfaction
permit me to drink in with its fragrances.
In narrow, secret circles,
you, wild heart, will know well
that peace hovers above with hushed
wing-beats, slowly descending.
Lovely birds, sing your lovely songs,
sing me gently into slumber!
Distracting torments, dissipate again;
wild heart, now good night!