Lament

By Georg Trakl

Sleep and death, the dusky eagles

Around this head swoop all night long;

Eternity’s icy wave

Would swallow the golden image

Of man; against horrible reefs

His purple body is shattered.

And the dark voice laments

Over the sea.

Sister of stormy sadness,

Look a timid dinghy goes down

Under stars,

The silent face of the night.