The Chained Muse

Full-blossoming moon! Here in thy light
Like flowing gold the ocean gleams;
As limpid as day, yet dimly bewitched,
Reposing across the expanse of the strand;
And in the bright blue, starless heavens
Hover the clouds of white,
Like colossal god-tableaus
Of luminous marb...

Fall rain, fall upon this old world,

And wake deep inside me the dreams

That I dreamt when I was a child,

When rain would wet the golden sand.

When the sultry summer breezes

Frolicked through the evening coolness

And the morning’s dewy leaves thawed,

When the crops shone a da...

On the seashores of endless worlds, earth's children converge.
The infinite sky is motionless, the restless waters boisterous.
On the seashores of endless worlds earth's children gather to dance with joyous cries and pirouettes.
They build sand castles and play with ho...

I sit here lonely on a hill

Where skies are clear and blue;

The sunset casts a glowing veil

Over the deep and tranquil dale—

I used to love this view.

I walked with my beloved there,

She was so close, so dear.

I saw within the mountain streams,

In sky and clouds, lik...

Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53

"Marie and I were sitting in the dining-room when the bell rang, and we heard Brahms go to our mother's room. Soon afterwards, deeply stirring and solemn music reached our ears. We listened. Brahms went away, and our mother came to us in a state of...

My sleep grows ever more gentle,

Only my sorrow, like a veil,

Trembles over me.

I hear you often in my dreams,

Standing at my door, calling me –

But no one answers, it seems.

I wake up and weep bitterly.

Death begins to rear his pale head;

You’ll kiss again when I'm long dead...

So cover up thy heaven, Zeus,
With cloudy mist!
And like a boy, who chops
The heads from thistles,
Go blast the oaks and mountaintops!
Yet thou must permit me
To keep my world,
And my rude dwelling,
That thou didst not build,
And my warm hearth,
Whose cheerful glow
Fil...

Only he who truly longs
Knows what grips me!
Alone, the love that belongs
With me has been set free.
I look to the cloudy throngs
Across the deep blue sea:

But ah! the sweet one who yearns
Remains far from me.
It dizzies me and burns
My innards daily.
Only he who trul...