cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

MOONLIGHT CRUISE ON THE SEA
The full moon shines; across the wide slumbering sea-flood the glistening, gentle stream
of moonlight spreads softly, appearing magical, while everything is still; while the stars in
the night sky bathe in the depths and the light sparkles from wave to wave; my vessel
glides easily on the wave, it follows those beautiful rows of moonlight.
Yonder in where the birch branches spread themselves, leaning out intimately over the
sea, there I rested just now under leafy cover; there it is so silent, there I could die, there I
could slumber beneath the peaceful grave mound, there could the wave sing in the stormy
night, there could the spirits of the sea-depths weep, fill my abode with longing laments.
Yet no, it is oppressively stifling by the shore! I must go out on the waves far from land.
There the sea-wind wafts coolly on my forehead, there I will quench the fire of longing
that gnaws my heart; there it is silent, there stretches the sea-plain, slumbering, deserted,
there nobody follows me, except the dead, whose eyes sparkle so strangely in the waves.
Do you believe perhaps there are stars that twinkle with tear-dimmed radiance down there
in the depths? Do you see how they come, they vanish, they wink and whirl around
wildly in the mysterious dance? There certainly I would feel at home, there I could
extinguish every gnawing pain, quiet every torment that consumed me within! Yes, there
it is splendid; there I could forget!
MIDNIGHT MOOD
Nocturnal mists drift across the riverbank, to sink into the soul gently engrossed in the
peace of ideas; while the living sleep, an elfin army haunts yonder in the dark forests; the
midnight hour is near.
Here it is good to dream, here in the silent night, where your sore longings' poetry is being
set to music: the notes the waves sing resound like spirits' play, down there the spruce
forest's sigh hums accompanying chords.
Here you can conjure up the vanished memories from the sea of the past, greet, like
friends, the shadows of those who passed away, that ascend from the grave, to mingle so
prettily the dim, darkening cloud of memories with the gleams of light that sparkle from
hope's breaking dawn!
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