I hear in the night - Holger Drachmann

I hear in the night
From the sleeping forest
A cry: Ah help me
My God!
I listen trembling,
Cannot sleep,
They call me, I hasten
Outside.

I wake in the night
The sleeping forest
With whispering voice:
Who’s there?
In darkness, where all
Is still and silent
Stand sleepily bushes
And trees.

I’m frightened as if
I had dared too much
And call again:
Who’s there?
I listen. From sleep-heavy
Slumbering forests
There comes back the echo:
Who’s there?

I hasten at night
From the quiet forest,
I anxiously think
My God!
I lie still, I listen,
Can sleep no more.
Who am I? And where
Am I bound?

---

Holger Drachmann (1846 – 1908) Denmark
Translated by Jelka Rosen
Source: The Complete Delius Songbook, Mark Stone & Steven Barlow, Boosey & Hawkes, 2011