In the Fog - Hermann Hesse

To wander in fog—how queer!
Lonely are bush and stone,
No tree sees the other near,
Each is alone.

Once my world was full of friends,
When my life still had light;
Now that the fog descends,
Not one is in sight.

Only he is wise who knows
The steady gloom to fall
That slowly round him grows,
Severed from all.

To wander in fog—how queer!
Solitude is life’s own.
No man sees the other near,
Each is alone.

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Hermann Hesse (1877 – 1962)
Translated by Margarete Münsterberg
Source: A Harvest of German Verse, Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. D. Appleton and Co., 1916