Drink, O youth, that daylong blessing
Of your loved one’s eyes’ possessing,
Nightly rocked by her sweet dream;
There’s no lover had it better,
Yet your luck is ever greater
When she’s far away, I deem.
Time and space, eternal forces,
Like the stars in secret courses,
Lull this blood with rockabye.
Passion will be daily slighter,
Yet my heart shall be the lighter,
And my luck will grow thereby.
Nowhere can I now forget her,
Yet in peace I eat without her
In a spirit light and free.
And a hidden coruscation
Turns my love to admiration,
Lust to sensitivity.
Not the lightest cloud, drawn higher
By the sun in warm desire,
Swims in such ethereal breath
As my heart in peace and pleasure.
Free of fear and envy’s measure,
Now I love her beyond death.
1769–70