Morphine

There’s a mirror likeness between the two

Bright, youthfully-shaped figures, though

One’s paler than the other and more austere,

I might even say more perfect, more distinguished,

Than the one who’d take me confidingly in his arms –

How soft then, loving, his smile, how blessed his glance!

Then it might well have been, that his wreath

Of white poppies touched my forehead, at times,

Drove the pain from my mind with its strange scent.

But all that’s transient. I can only, now, be well,

When the other one, so serious and pale,

The older brother, lowers his dark torch. –

Sleep is good: and Death is better, yet

Surely never to have been born is best.