Octavian - translations added

If I could but briefly seize
The wings of the passing breeze
I would quickly fly out then
In the world, and from above,

If you knew how much, my dear,
I pine for your voice to hear,
You'd come flying like a bird
Just to tell me one more word.

From a mountain peak I slowly was descending to a vale
All alone on the thin trail
In my mind feeling a thrill,

From the world's unchanging seashores clouds rise daily to the sky,
But on its serene expanses no fog stays to meet the eye,
Blows the wind, away are driven, some still linger here and there,
Until all their vagrant pathways fade and vanish in the air.

I miss you still, though time has passed,
But in a way we are in touch,
You rule my soul, as in the past,
When it was loving you so much.

Why still you count your years to see if you are old
When very well you know your soul is sad and cold,
And why you ask the glass so often to attest
That on your face cruel time no wrinkles has impressed,

Why in my soul there is a war?
Maybe I'm making a mistake,
My hopes are vain and maybe your
Sweet love for me is just a fake?

I've often struggled with my mind
To know, to get it right
The naked truth that is confined
In your uncanny sight.

O, my sweet dream, so blessed and bright,
You, which I know to be the last,
Just as you came to me in flight
Now go away and vanish fast.

When night is deep and quiet and no one is nearby,
When even the sweet breeze on leaves has found its rest
And bright and vagrant moon glides on the cloudless sky
And all the sleeping earth by moonlight is caressed,