did.
Dreamily young Werner lifted
Unto her his raptured gaze:
"Am I dying, or is doubly
My young life to me now given?"
In each other's arms they flew then,
Sought each other's lips with ardour,
And transported, pressed upon them
Love's first kiss, so sweet and blissful.
Golden-purple streamed the sunlight
Through the shady trees' high summits,
Down upon two happy beings--
On young Werner's pallid features,
On the lovely blushing maiden.

Love's first kiss so sweet and blissful!
Thinking of thee, joy and sorrow
Both steal o'er me; joy, that also
I have once thy nectar tasted,
Sorrow, that but once we taste it!
For thy sake I wished to cull from
Language, all the fairest flowers,
For a wreath unto thine honour;
But, instead of words rose visions
Clear before me, and they led me
Far to float o'er time and space.
First I soared to Eden's garden,
When the new-born world was lying
In its pristine youthful freshness,
When its age by days was reckoned.
Evening came, a rosy light spread
O'er the sky, while in the river's
Waves the sun to rest sank slowly;
On the shore, in merry frolic,
Graceful animals were playing.
Through the shady paths 'neath palm-trees
The first human couple walked.
Wide through space they gazed in silence,
'Mid the holy peace of evening;
In each other's eyes they looked then,
And their lips did meet.
Then I saw before me rising.
Visions of quite different aspect;
Dark the sky, rain-storm and lightning,
Mountains bursting, from the dark depths
Foaming waters rushing upward.
Flooded over is the ancient
Mother Earth, and she is dying.
To the cliffs the waves are rolling,
To the old man and his consort,
To the two last living mortals.
Now a flash--I saw them smiling,
Then embracing, without speaking,
Ever kissing. Night then--roaring,
Did the flood engulf these beings.
This I saw, and well I know now,
That a kiss outweighs all language,
Is, though mute, love's song of songs.
And when words fail, then the singer
Should be silent; therefore silent
He returns now to the garden.
On the stone steps of the terrace
Lay the wort