Here I lie now, helpless fellow

Here I lie now, helpless fellow,

Thrown, like a yelling highwayman,

Into the pit by a storm of indignation;

A blind mole in a ploughed-up field.

Well then, I will wait for what has to come,

'Cause, in the end, I'm dwelling calmly here,

I do not feel my stiffened limbs now,

But my calm soul is glowing gaily.

If only I had one eternal thought,

Worth pondering on for ever and ever,

I would be content within these narrow limits,

Snugly musing until Judgement Day.

Perhaps - who knows - it might grow to such extent

That, turning into vigour, a volcano,

It would capture this grave in an outburst of flames,

Thus shedding light onto the path of my new life!

Amazing thought: When above my head

the evening dew cools lifeless flowers -

Would the priest, taking a stroll, know that

there was a summer lightning beneath his feet?

That down here, glowing in its own light's radiation,

a human soul was thinking?

Perhaps this is damnation's agony:

To glow secretly, forever buried!