Friedrich Adolf Krummacher: “The Setting Sun”

Excerpt, “German Lyric Poetry:  A Collection of Songs and Ballads.”  Translated from the Best German Lyric Poets, with Notes by Charles Timothy Brooks.  1863.

 THE SETTING SUN

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The sun is setting brightly;

How clear he looks, and sprightly!

How like a friend he seems to gaze,

While slowly sinks his golden blaze!

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This is the way he preaches,

And this the truth he teaches:

Whoe’er in goodness spends the day,

When evening comes, is always gay.

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He walks from morn to even

His destined path through heaven,

And from his heavenly tent pours forth

Brightness and warmth o’er all the earth.

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Then, when the day is ending,

He, to his rest descending,

Yet stays his downward course a while,

To greet us with a farewell smile.

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And now he is reposing;

Night’s shades are o’er him closing;

But with new splendor soon he’ll rise,

And flame on high in eastern skies.

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So tread the path before thee,

Of virtue, bliss and glory,

That, when the day of life is o’er,

Thy sun may rise in heaven to set no more.