Where is the friend
Where is the friend I search for without ceasing?
At sunrise, all my longing’s but increasing;
At sunset, still he does elude my yearning,
Though my heart’s burning.
I see his trace in every force revealing
In fragrant flowers, in ears of corn now kneeling.
With every sigh I take, each breath expended
His love is blended.
I hear his voice where summer winds are blowing,
Where woods are singing, rivers swiftly flowing;
I hear it in my heart most gently singing
And solace bringing.
Yet even so a mist from me obscures him:
My prayer but not my every gaze conjures him.
Ah, were I face to face where nought can sever,
Embraced for ever.
Ah, when in every vein of all creation
And life there’s beauty found in every station,
How beauteous then, with clarity eternal,
The source supernal!
Oh source of life, of peace, of bliss inspiring,
When will your wave so pure sate my desiring?
What can e’er lead me to your flowing fullness
But death’s still coolness?
My spirit, be consoled, hope, pray, stay fasting,
Your friend waves to you: you shall see, be tasting
How sweet he is and in his arms be sinking,
His mercy drinking.
Soon like the ark’s tired dove shall you be making
For distant shores on which no wave is breaking,
Like frightened lamb the shepherd’s bosom seeking,
And his safe keeping.
Johann Olof Wallin (1818)
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