Hymn to the Night II {Novalis}

Must morning always dawn?
Has earth’s power no end at all?
Unholy dealings consume the divine approach of the night!
Why can’t life’s most secret sacrifice burn eternal?
Light was
given its time,
but timeless and boundless is the realm of Night.
Sleep’s time will never end.
Blessed sleep! Don’t favor too seldom those dedicated to the night
in this diurnal labor.
Only the dim mistake you
knowing nothing of sleep but that shadow
with which you kindly cover us
in the gloaming of true night.
The golden flood of the grapes
they’ll never know,
nor the wonder of almond oil,
and the poppy’s brown juice.
The cannot know it’s you
who hover about the tender maiden’s breast
and make a heaven of her lap;
they never guess it’s you that steps to meet them,
opening heaven’s doors, from the oldest tales,
and with the key to the halls of the enlightened,
silently bearing endless secrets.