Nocturne III

One night

one night all full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings;

    one night

in which fantastic fireflies burnt in the humid nuptial shadows,

slowly by my side, pressed altogether close, silent and pale,

as if a presentiment of infinite bitternesses

agitated you unto the most hidden fibers of your being,

along the flowering path which crosses the plain

    you walked;

         and the full moon

in the infinite and profound blue heavens scattered its white light;

         and your shadow,

    fine and languid,

         and my shadow

    projected by the rays of the moon,

    upon the sorrowful sands

    of the path, joined together;

         and they became one,

              and they became one,

    and they became only one long shadow,

         and they became only one long shadow,

              and they became only one long shadow….

    Tonight

    alone; my soul

full of the infinite bitternesses and agonies of your death,

separated from you by time, by the tomb and by distance,

    by the infinite blackness

    where our voice cannot reach,

    silent and alone

    along the path I walked…

And the barking of dogs at the moon could be heard,

    at the pale moon,

    and the chirping

    of the frogs…

I felt cold. It was the coldness that in your alcove

your cheeks and your temples and your adoréd hands possessed

    within the snowy whiteness

    of the mortuary sheets.

It was the coldness of the sepulcher, it was the ice of death,

    it was the coldness of oblivion.

    And my shadow,

projected by the rays of the moon,

    walked alone,

    walked alone,

walked alone along the solitary plain;

    and your shadow, svelte and agile,

    fine and languid,

as in that warm night of springtime death,

as in that night full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings,

    approached and walked with mine,

    approached and walked with mine,

approached and walked with mine… Oh, the shadows intertwined!

Oh, the corporeal shadows united with the shadows of the souls!

Oh, the seeking shadows in those nights of sorrows and of tears!