Laudator Temporis Acti

Goethe, Wanderer's Song at Night (Wanderers Nachtlied), II (tr. Leonard Forster):

Calm is over all the hill-tops, in all the tree-tops you can hardly feel a breath. The little birds are hushed in the wood. Wait, soon you will be calm too.

The same, tr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

O'er all the hill-tops
Is quiet now,
In all the tree-tops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The birds are asleep in the trees:
Wait; soon like these
Thou too shalt rest.

The same, tr. Theodore Martin:

Peace breathes along the shade
Of every hill,
The tree-tops of the glade
Are hush'd and still ;
All woodland murmurs cease,
The birds to rest within the brake are gone.
Be patient, weary heart—anon,
Thou, too, shalt be at peace!

The same, tr. Edgar Alfred Bowring:

Hushed on the hill
Is the breeze;
Scarce by the zephyr
The trees
Softly are press'd;
The woodbird's asleep on the bough.
Wait, then, and thou
Soon will find rest.

The same, tr. W. Edmondstoune Aytoun:

Peace breathes along the shade
Of every hill
The tree-tops of the glade
Are hushed and still;
All woodland murmurs cease,
The birds to roost within the brake are gone.
Be patient, weary heart, anon
Thou, too, shalt be at peace.

The same, tr. George P. Upton:

On every mountain-height
Is rest,
O'er each summit white
Thou feelest
Scarcely a breath;
The bird-songs are still from each bough,
Only wait, soon shalt thou
Rest, too, in death.

The same, tr. William Norman Guthrie:

Hovereth o'er every height
Peace visible;
And every treetop—light
Breathings do lull
Of dreamless sleep.
Birds hush them in the brake.
'Bide thee, thou too ere long shalt take
Thy rest—still, deep.

The same, tr. Robert Bly:

There is a stillness
On the tops of the hills.
In the tree tops
You feel
Hardly a breath of air.
The small birds fall silent in the trees.
Simply wait: soon
You too will be silent.

The same, tr. Christopher Middleton:

Over mountains yonder,
A stillness;
Scare any breath, you wonder,
Touches
The tops of all the trees.
No forest birds now sing;
A moment, waiting—
Then take, you too, your ease.

The German:

Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch,
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.