One Evening (By the Neckar at Heidelberg)

Silent is the moonlight pale, The boughs of all the trees are still,

The music-maker of the vale Hushed, and the green robes of the hill;

Fallen into a swoon creation Sleeps in the bosom of the night,

And from this hush such magic grows, No more now Neckar’s current flows;

Silent the starry caravan moves Onward, no bell tinkling its flight,

Silent the hills and streams and groves, All Nature lost in contemplation.

Oh heart, you too be silent: keep Your grief hugged close, and sleep.