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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Dieser Liebe toller Fasching

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

Dieser Liebe toller Fasching

By Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)
 
(Translated by Louis Untermeyer)

THIS mad carnival of loving,
This wild orgy of the flesh,
Ends at last and we two, sobered,
Look at one another, yawning.
 
Emptied the inflaming cup        5
That was filled with sensuous potions,
Foaming, almost running over—
Emptied is the flaming cup.
 
All the violins are silent
That impelled our feet to dancing,        10
To the giddy dance of passion—
Silent are the violins.
 
All the lanterns now are darkened
That once poured their streaming brilliance
On the masquerades and mummurs—        15
Darkened now are all the lanterns.
 
And to-morrow is Ash Wednesday,
And I put a cross of ashes
On your lovely brow, and tell you:
“Woman, you are dust. Remember!”        20