We present this work in honor of the 185th anniversary of the poet’s death.

If beasts within a silent forest moan,
If trumpets sound, if thunder rolls and cracks,
Or young girls sing almost inaudibly—
For each initial tone
The atmosphere resounds quite suddenly
With a response, your own.

You listen to the peal of distant thunder,
The rumbling voice of violent waves and storm,
And hear the village shepherd’s lonely cry—
And then you send your answer,
But hear no echo, there is no reply…
This also, poet, is your nature.

Translation by Michael Mesic