Soon as the Nightingale this message heard He was in ardent passion overwhelmed. He cried aloud with sighs and deep lament; “Hear me; I will my woe relate to thee. I, a poor man, for lovingness atone, And all the guilt is in the jailer found. Love is the only guilt that I avow, This is the cause of all my sorrows here. While love has thus enchained my inmost life, My song alone the note of freedom sounds.” And the East Wind responded to this speech. “Heroic sufferer,” he replied to him, “Torment thyself no more, the course of love At last is tending to the goal desired; Long hast thou borne this dire adversity, The hour of happiness at last draws near. The queenly Rose her greeting sends to thee, And makes the message through this herald known; Thy long-continued passion finds its end, ’Tis time the volume of thy pain be closed. Soon shalt thou from thy prison-house be freed. Lament no more, thy succor is at hand.” Then the East Wind the pleasant message gave, With which the Rose had sent him on his way; And when the bird received that sweet despatch, He fell to earth, quite overcome with joy. And said: “Oh, let me know the news she sends, For it has reached me in a happy hour; The hour in which I fell to earth for grief, There comes to me the news of happiness.” And with a thankful heart he thanked the Lord; And to the East Wind every blessing wished, And on his backward way the East Wind went, And songs of thankfulness the bird began. And when the East Wind reached the happy Rose He said: “O Light that glorifiest the world, The Nightingale is prisoner in a cage; The cage is like a dungeon to the bird; And he is overwrought with love for thee; And languishes amid the pangs of love. His strains betray the languor of his heart, Oft as he breathes them on the listening wind. And ofttimes he reflects, that all his life, Is now surrendered to a narrow cage; And soon his spirit will surrendered be, Unless the anguish of his song be stilled. And tho’ full many a sufferer I have seen, Saw I none ever in such languishment.” LIII WHILE THE NIGHTINGALE LIES A PRISONER SUFFERING IN HIS CAGE, THE ROSE COMES TO PAY HIM A SICK VISIT, AND TO LEARN OF HIS HEALTH