European Elegies/Autumn (2)/Evening peace
90.EVENING PEACE
Be wise, my grief, and let your sobbing cease.
You asked for night: and now it darkens down
In grey enfolding shadows o'er the town,
Bringing to some pale care, to others peace.
And while the common multitude of men
Beneath the lash of pitiless excess
Sow their remorse in weak licentiousness,
Give me, my grief, thy hand; come hither then,
Far from their path. See how the dead years lean
In faded garments from the galleried sky,
And glad regrets rise from the watery deep;
Beneath the vault, the sick sun sinks to die,
And, like a long shroud drawn in grief between,
Comes the soft silence of the night, and sleep.
You asked for night: and now it darkens down
In grey enfolding shadows o'er the town,
Bringing to some pale care, to others peace.
And while the common multitude of men
Beneath the lash of pitiless excess
Sow their remorse in weak licentiousness,
Give me, my grief, thy hand; come hither then,
Far from their path. See how the dead years lean
In faded garments from the galleried sky,
And glad regrets rise from the watery deep;
Beneath the vault, the sick sun sinks to die,
And, like a long shroud drawn in grief between,
Comes the soft silence of the night, and sleep.
From the French of Charles Baudelaire.