1.
Snowless hang the clouds to-night,
Through the darkness comes a light;
On this lonely pillow now,
Never more shall sleep alight.
2.
Like a star whose brightness grows
On the earth my beauty shows;
Thou shalt long for yet, and seek
My dark eyes and arching brows.
3.
Long and lone this night to me
Passing slow and wearily;
Passing full of sighs and tears--
Love, what doth it bring to thee?
4.
Eden's smile my vineyard wore,
Flowers bloomed, a goodly store;
Handsome youth and ugly maid--
This was never seen before! [140]
Thus each one carries its bit of prophesy, daintily and prettily
expressed, which when sung at the foot of some mountain, in the bright
eastern sunlight of the morning, while a little child is holding
tokens beside a bowl surrounded by the group of beflowered maidens,
makes as complete and charming a picture as one could well imagine.
Many curious beliefs, superstitions, customs, and legends are
directly related to Ascension Day. It is believed, for example,
that on the eve of this day the water of the springs, brooks,
and rivers lies peacefully motionless for a single moment during
the night. At the same moment heaven and earth, mountain and stone,
trees and flowers beckon and congratulate one another. First heaven
congratulates and kisses the earth, then one star beckons to another,
one flower to another, and so forth until all of nature's objects
have expressed their mutual good feeling. Even plants and "soulless"
objects receive the gift of speech and share their secrets one with
the other at this time. He who hides himself in a stone crevice of the
mountainside may listen to the conversation of stones and flowers,
and understand what they tell each other. They tell on this night
what sort of sicknesses they and the springs will heal, and many
people endeavor to attend at this moment, but only a few succeed. [141]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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