Salis-Seewis: “Into the Silent Land!”

By Johann Gaudenz Freiherr von Salis-Seewis (1762-1834). Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), “Ins stille Land,” D. 403 (1816), published 1845. Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), “Song of the Silent Land”, from Hyperion, published 1839.

 

Into the Silent Land!
Ah! who shall lead us thither?
Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather,
And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand.
Who leads us with a gentle hand
Thither, oh, thither,
Into the Silent Land?

Into the Silent Land!
To you, ye boundless regions
Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions
Of beauteous souls! The Future's pledge and band!
Who in Life's battle firm doth stand,
Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms
Into the Silent Land!

O Land! O Land!
For all the broken-hearted
The mildest herald by our fate allotted,
Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand
To lead us with a gentle hand
Into the Silent Land!