The Poems of Schiller — First period. Friedrich von Schiller

Scarce thine eye can ope and close

         Ere life's dying sunset glows;

         Sinking sudden from its pride

      1

       The allusion in the original is to the seemingly magical power possessed by a Jew conjuror, named Philadelphia, which would not be understood in English.

      2

       This most exquisite love poem is founded on the platonic notion, that souls were united in a pre-existent state, that love is the yearning of the spirit to reunite with the spirit with which it formerly made one — and which it discovers on earth. The idea has often been made subservient to poetry, but never with so earnest and elaborate a beauty.