I Look at the Future with Fear ...
I look at the future with fear,
I look at the past with yearning,
And, as a criminal before his execution,
Try to find around a kindred soul.
When would he come, a herald of salvation,
To unfold before me the meaning of life,
The final goal of all expectations and passions,
To tell me: what was my destiny,
And why it contradicted so bitterly
With the hopes of my youth?
I gave this world its earthly share
Of love, of hopes, of good and evil;
I am ready to begin a new life,
I wait in silence: the time has come.
No, I won't leave a brother in this world,
My tired soul is finally embraced
By the darkness and by the cold;
As an immature fruit, deprived of juice,
It withered, frayed by fateful winds
Under the torrid Sun of existence.
1838