Song of the Silent Land

Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Das stille Land”         INTO the Silent Land!     Ah, who shall lead us thither? Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather, And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand.     Who leads us with a gentle hand           Thither, oh, thither,         Into the Silent Land?         Into the Silent Land!     To you, ye boundless regions Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions   Of beauteous souls! The future’s pledge and band!     Who in life’s battle firm doth stand       Shall bear hope’s tender blossoms         Into the Silent Land!         O Land! O Land!     For all the broken-hearted The mildest herald by our fate allotted   Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand     To lead us with a gentle hand Into the land of the great departed,       Into the Silent Land!