O MOTHER...
O mother, darling mother, lost in time's formless haze
Amidst the leaves' sweet rustle you
call my name always;
Amidst their fluttering murmur above
your sacred grave
I hear you softly whisper whene'er the
branches wave;
While o'er your tomb the willows their
autumn raiment heap...
For ever wave the branches, and you for
ever sleep.
When l shall die, beloved, do not beside me mourn,
But break a branch of blossom that does
the lime adorn,
And take it very softly, and plant it at
my head;
I'll feel its shadow growing as on the
soil it's shed;
And watered by the tears that you for
sorrow weep...
For ever grow that shadow, and l for
ever sleep.
And
should it be together that we shall die one day,
They shall not in some cemet'ry our
separate bodies lay,
But let them dig a grave near where the
river flows
And in a single coffin them both
together close;
That l to time eternal my love beside
me keep...
For ever wail the water, and we for
ever sleep.
English version by Corneliu M. Popescu
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