To carry spirit light into world-winter-night
My heart is ardently impelled,
That shining seeds of soul
Take root in grounds of worlds
And Word Divine through senses' darkness
Resounds, transfiguring all life.
English translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch
Zu tragen Geisteslicht in Weltenwinternacht
Erstrebet selig meines Herzens Trieb,
Dass leuchtend Seelenkeime
In Weltengründen wurzeln,
Und Gotteswort im Sinnesdunkel
Verklärend alles Sein durchtönt.
The Year Participated translation by Owen Barfield
To be a torch to bear the Spirit's light
into the dark night of a wintry world
blessing and blest my eager heart aspires;
bright shoots of soul
sunk in the ground-bed of the world shall be
and shining from the sensual dark
the Word resound through all Reality.
(provided with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Press)