ON the bridge I stood,
Mellow was the night,
Music came from far--
Drops of gold outpoured
On the shimmering waves.
Song, gondolas, light,
Floated a-twinkling out into the dusk.
The chords of my soul, moved
By unseen impulse, throbbed
Secretly into a gondola song,
With thrills of bright-hued ecstasy.
Had I a listener there?
[Footnote 1: Translated by Herman Scheffauer.]
[Footnote 2: Translated by Herman Scheffauer.]
[Footnote 3: This poem was written on the betrothal of one of
Nietzsche's Bâle friends.--TR.]
[Footnote 4: Translated by Herman Scheffauer.]
[Footnote 5: Campo Santo di Staglieno is the cemetery of Staglieno,
near Genoa. The poem was inspired by the sight of a girl
with a lamb on the tombstone, with the words underneath--
"Pia, caritatevole, amorosissima."]
[Footnote 6: Published by Nietzsche himself. The poem was inspired
by a ship that was christened _Angiolina,_ in memory of a
love-sick girl who leapt into the sea.--TR.]
[Footnote 7: See above, p. 157. Both poems were inspired by the same
tombstone.--TR.]
[Footnote 8: The Genoese is Nietzsche himself, who lived a great
part of his life at Genoa.--TR.]
[Footnote 9: Translated by Herman Scheffauer.]